Sailor Ronin
by Irritus185
Summary: Who says to be a magical girl ya have to be magical? If youma that aren't youma are attacking Japan, then why not have a senshi that isn't a senshi? Explosions, perverseness, and folklore abound! The new senshi are here to stay! And eat a banana or two...
1. So You Want To Be A Magical Girl?

_I don't own Love Hina, and I don't own Sailor Moon_

* * *

**Sailor Ronin**  
**Chapter 1: So You Want To Be A Magical Girl?**  
**By Raithe (original concept stol… er, _borrowed_ from Irritus)**

* * *

Keitaro Urashima wandered around the Hinata-sou worriedly. "Tama-chaa~aan!" he called out. It simply wasn't like her to miss a meal.

As he entered the front hall, a piercing shriek drew his attention.

Motoko was backing into the inn-turned-dormitory through the open front door, swinging her katana wildly. The source of her fear quickly became apparent when what could only be described as a monstrous, flying turtle followed her inside, keeping carefully out of range.

Keitaro stood frozen in shock as the teenage brunette finally gave in to her phobia and fainted. The thing prodded her with its head, and uttered a loud, puzzled "Myuuh?"

The light bulb in Keitaro's head clicked on. "…Tama-chan?" he hazarded, approaching the turtle. It turned to face him, and 'myuuh'ed happily when Keitaro reached it and started patting its head. Keitaro loudly called out into the hotel, "_Su!_ Get over here!"

"Coming!" came the distant reply.

The turtle butted its head against Keitaro as its stomach growled. "Aww, poor girl. Well, don't you worry, I'll make a good meal for you!" Its eyes widened as it 'myuuh'ed with joy, giving Keitaro a huge lick and drooling expectantly.

Thumping brought his attention to the other side of the room, where a short, tanned, and blonde teenager had just entered, barely keeping up with the small, flying turtle tied to her by a rope. "What is it, Keitaros?" she asked in her usual hyper-active tone.

"Just _what_ did you do to Tama-chan?" he demanded, indicating the beast behind him - which was still licking him as if he were a huge lollipop.

"But I haven't done anything yet…" she whined, only to trail off at the sight of the giant turtle.

"Well, clearly you have! Now, untie Tama-chan and help me get Tama-chan back… to… normal?" Keitaro finally realized what he was seeing and turned back to the monster. He found his face scant inches from row upon row of serrated teeth.

Keitaro's brain locked itself into an infinite loop of '_I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die'_, preventing any other thoughts or actions.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

As the new voice finished its incantation, the 'turtle' sounded a frightened 'Myuuh?' and began to glow almost blindingly bright. After a few moments, the glow subsided, revealing…

…The exact same turtle monster. The only difference was that it was no longer about to eat Keitaro's face.

As one, Keitaro, Su, Tama-chan, and the monster turned to face the newcomer - a ridiculously dressed teenage girl with long, blonde pigtails, holding a crescent-moon wand.

The girl gazed at the turtle, then her wand, then the turtle again, and said, tone embarrassed, "Eh-heh, that… that usually works. Give me a second…" She started whacking her wand as if it were a misbehaving television set, and the monster trumpeted an angry 'MYUUH!' and charged her, moving far faster than anyone expected it could.

The girl let out a surprised squeak and ran, the two of them doing several laps around the inn's front yard before finally heading down the stairs to the street, all while Keitaro watched in bemused silence.

"What the hell was that?" he wondered aloud as they ran out of sight.

"Myuh," Tama-chan answered succinctly.

A cry of 'Moon Tiara Magic!' came from the bottom of the hotel's stairs. A moment later, a bright flash appeared, and one last 'MYUU-' could be heard.

"That. Was so. _Cool_!" Su proclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"…I think you need to work on your definition of 'cool'," answered Keitaro. "I'm gonna go take care of Motoko and try to pretend this never happened." He turned and left, carrying the swordswoman's unconscious form as Tama-chan followed.

Su simply stood there, rubbing her hands together in giddy anticipation. She had _things_ to make.

* * *

That evening, a quintet of exhausted teenage girls met in the residential-miko's shrine.

"Eight youma," stated Makoto. "_Eight_ in one day, all over Tokyo and even outside it. And those are just the ones we found."

The others nodded in tired agreement. "Could any of you sense them?" asked Rei. When the others shook their heads, she turned back to the first girl "What about your computer, Ami?"

"Nothing. It couldn't even scan them," answered the short, dark haired girl.

"And I couldn't purify them, either," whined Usagi, thinking back to the turtle youma she'd fought earlier.

Minako sighed. "If this keeps up, there's no way we can defend Tokyo, even with the Outers' help. What would cause eight youma to appear all at once?"

"Make that fourteen youma," said the black cat entering the room, with a second, white one close behind her. "The Outer senshi say they defeated another five between them, and Artemis and I just took down a rat youma outside the shrine."

Makoto rubbed her temples. "Fourteen, none of which we could sense, and which can't be purified. At least these were weaker than the youma we normally face, but…" She turned to the two cats. "Luna, Artemis, what do you think it means?"

"I'm… afraid there's only one thing I can think of," started Artemis.

"An invasion," finished Luna.

The next week was a very tense one for the residents of the Hinata-sou, as well as for the rest of the near-by prefectures, though to a lesser extent.

Su had all but locked herself in her room, obsessed with what she would only refer to as her 'new project'. Strange noises – stranger than usual - could be heard at all hours, along with rather disturbing giggling.

She left her room only for three reasons. First, to eat – and she ate lightly and quickly, a cause for concern in and of itself. After the first two days, Shinobu began leaving trays of food outside Su's door, though she never saw the trays again afterwards.

Second, to pick up the steady stream of packages being delivered to the dorm. She'd developed some sort of sixth sense about when they would arrive, always managing to scoop them up and disappear back into her lair before the others could get there and snoop.

And third, as Keitaro painfully discovered one evening, to soak in the dorm's hot spring.

On top of this, there were news reports several times a day about strange monsters appearing all over Japan. Some of them attacked any they came across. Others gorged themselves on food in stores and markets. Still others seemed to do little more than wander around. There were rumors of the military planning to evacuate Tokyo, though as yet nothing more than that.

The only thing the monsters had in common was that each was defeated by one of nine costumed teenage girls. Usually, they worked alone, but sometimes they fought together in teams. According to the news reports, they were known as the Sailor Senshi, and were apparently quite famous in Juuban, though no one in or near the Hinata-sou had ever heard of them.

Occasionally, one of the Senshi would actually be caught on camera. Whenever this happened, high-pitched squeeing would emit from Su's room, and the strange noises would become even stranger and more frequent for a while.

Finally, one week after the turtle incident, Su burst from her room screaming, "It's _finished_!" She saw Shinobu cowering a short distance way and, in the grips a of full-on manic episode, grabbed her by the arm and started babbling incoherently in Molmolian while dragging her through the dorm. Once they'd reached the common room, she dropped the terrified girl on a couch, said, "Gottagettheothersbye!" and dashed off.

Shinobu simply sat there, panting, trying to get her breathing and heart-rate back down to human levels. One by one, Su dragged the others into the room in a similar fashion, and in short order the entire dorm plus Mutsumi and Haruka had been gathered.

Su ran from the room once more as everyone looked at each other, equal measures of confusion and fear in their expressions (except for Haruka, whose face was unreadable as usual). Finally, Su reentered with a yell of "TA-DA!" wearing an outfit that was clearly meant to mimic those worn by the Sailor Senshi.

The top and leggings were cherry red, the knee-length skirt and elbow-length gloves azure blue. A blue radiation symbol stood out on her chest, and several similarly-marked pouches circled her waist. She had a high-tech-looking visor over her eyes and forehead, proudly displaying the triple eyed marking that adorned all her inventions.

The others sat in shock while Su posed and basked in what she presumed to be their adoring silence for a few moments, and then she announced, "I am _Sailor Fusion_! Here to battle the evils of the world through over-whelming technological force! What do you think?"

Naru instantly realized where this was headed. "I have studying to do," she said simply, and left for her room.

Su stared after her. "Aw, poo…" she whined, but then perked up. "Oh well, there's still the rest of you." She fetched an eye-marked box and privacy screen from near the door and turned to Shinobu. "Shinomu, you can be Sailor Loli!" She pulled a sky blue outfit with a _very_ short skirt out of the box.

The young chef took one look at it and instantly turned crimson. "You want me to where _that_? I couldn't..."

"Sure you can!" Su dragged the reluctant girl behind the screen as Motoko clamped her hand over Keitaro's eyes for good measure. After a few seconds and several indignant shrieks, Su dragged her back out, now clothed in the embarrassing outfit. The skirt turned out to be even shorter than it had looked before, and Motoko clamped her other hand over Keitaro's face as well, inadvertently cutting off his oxygen.

Shinobu stood there, silent, turning redder by the moment. Finally, Kitsune began, "I think-"

"_Nooooooooooo!_" Shinobu screamed. She ran crying out of the room, though not before managing to trip, tumble, and land with her panties firmly in Keitaro's face _just_ as he'd struggled free of Motoko's grip.

"Urashima…" The swordswoman growled, drawing her katana.

Su frowned after Shinobu, ignoring the hapless man's pummeling. She turned to Haruka. "Haruka, you can be-"

Haruka simply looked at her.

"…_Kitsune_, you can be Sailor Fox!" She pulled out a much more modest red and brown costume from the box, this one complete with twin fox-tails and a fox-eared headpiece. She handed it to Kitsune, who looked it over appraisingly. "So? What do you think?" she asked excitedly.

"I think I'll make a few modifications and add this to my toy closet."

"No, I meant, will you join me in my crusade against evil?"

"Oh, that. …Nah." She leaned back on the couch.

Motoko finished her beating of the accidental pervert, noticing Su's upset expression. "What did I miss?"

"Oh, nothing." Kitsune answered. She gestured at the little mad scientist. "Well? Who's next?"

"…Sarah, this one's yours. Sailor Panda!" She pulled out a black-and-white outfit, modeled after its namesake.

Sarah took one look at it, and _slowly_ turned her head to Keitaro, still laying face-down on the floor. "You… _told…_ her?" she ground out. Before he could even protest, she leapt onto his back and put him into as tight a choke hold as she could manage – which was very tight indeed.

"Told me what?" Su asked innocently. "I just thought you'd look cute in a panda outfit."

"…Huh?" She looked at the blue-faced man beneath her, and relaxed her grip. "…You're still a dork, though," she informed him.

"But what is it you think he told me?" Su repeated over the ronin's gasps for air.

"Yeah, tell us!" urged Kitsune.

"I must admit, I'm quite curious, myself," added Motoko.

"Oh my, this should be interesting!" spoke up Mutsumi.

"Myuh!" put in Tama-chan.

Haruka simply rolled her eyes and took a drag from her cigarette.

The nine-year-old foreigner looked back and forth between them all. "Uh, that is, you see… Oh! I think I hear Papa!"

"Hmm? I don't hear anything…" began Mutsumi, but Sarah was already dashing out the front door.

Kitsune watched her exit, and then rounded on Keitaro as he picked himself up off the floor. "So, what's this 'secret' of hers? And how come you know it and not us, hmm?" She smiled at him sweetly as the others turned their attentions to him as well.

Keitaro shook his head adamantly. "I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone, and I won't!"

"Oh really?" She walked over to him. "Well, what if I…" She whispered something in his ear that made him blush.

"Oooh, and what if I gave you some melons!" added Mutsumi as she leaned closer, the view making his blush deepen even further.

"Stop it, you two," commanded Motoko, coming to his rescue – though likely that was unintended. "As much as I would _very_ much like to know, as well, it would not be right to force someone to break a sworn oath." She glanced at Keitaro, and added, "Even if he is without honor already. Now, Su, please continue this… 'meeting'."

Su fumed inwardly. She was 0 for 5, now, and even Motoko wasn't taking her plan seriously. It was almost as if the others weren't interested in becoming super heroes at all! "Umm… Mutsumi, will you join my fight against evil?"

"Sure! Sounds like fun!"

Su beamed at the female ronin. She _knew_ she could count on the turtle lady! "Great! You're Sailor-"

"Melon?" finished Kitsune, seeing the would-be Senshi pull yet another outfit from the box, this one striped dark and light green.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" she asked, handing the outfit to Mutsumi.

"Oh, just a hunch."

Mutsumi went behind the folding screen, and Motoko covered Keitaro's eyes again. "I will _tell_ you when you can look," she hissed at him. Keitaro went very still.

After a few moments, Mutsumi returned from behind the screen, and Motoko relaxed her grip. She was in a pose like the one Su had made. Keitaro had to admit, she filled the thing out quite… nicely. In fact, he thought the chest looked a little tight…

"It comes with this!" Su announced, passing her a large, similarly striped bazooka and breaking Keitaro out of his libido-fueled reverie.

"Oooh! So, I just point it and pull this?" she asked, aiming the bazooka towards the gathered residents. Everyone dove for cover as a melon-striped cannonball shot from the over-sized weapon… behind Mutsumi. It sailed harmlessly out through the still-open front door, and exploded in the air a second later.

Everyone peeked out from behind the furniture and saw Mutsumi laying motionless on the floor, eyes closed in peaceful death.

Haruka palmed her face. "Damn it, not again. Su, you _know_ Mutsumi isn't up for this kind of thing! Kitsune, help me carry her back to my place, will you?"

"Aw man…" Kitsune complained, but complied after a sharp look from Haruka. The each grabbed an end and started to carry her home.

Su decided to consider that a partial victory, for her ego's sake. She started fishing through the box again. "Tama-chan can be…" She pulled out a bright yellow, turtle-shaped dress. Based on the smell, it was made entirely out of bananas. "…Sailor Lunch-Break!" she finished.

Keitaro grabbed the outfit from her hands. "No."

"Myuh," Tama-chan seconded.

Su pouted, but then brightened. "Well, how about Motoko as Sailor Kendo!" She brought out another outfit.

Motoko stared at it. "It's _pink_."

"It comes with this cool katana!" Su said, holding up the sword in question.

"It's _hot _pink."

"And if you press this button, the katana electrifies, and all your sword moves become more powerful!"

"It is an _eye-searing_ hot pink."

"And it glows in the dark, too! I thought the color really suited you."

"You cannot seriously expect me to…" She faltered at Su's falling expression. "I mean, perhaps if it…" Su started making puppy-dog eyes. "…I shall think on it."

"Yay!" Su cheered. Motoko took the costume and, making sure that it was well hidden within her hakama, retreated to her room.

Su looked around the mostly empty room. "Well, Keitaros, I guess you're the last one. I'm… afraid I couldn't think of a cool name for yours."

Keitaro cringed. If she though 'Melon' and 'Kendo' were cool names, he hated to think of what she considered to be 'uncool'.

"The best I could come up with was… Sailor Tempest!" She pulled out a powder-blue dress.

Keitaro found himself simultaneously relieved by the name and utterly _horrified_ by the costume. "I'm not wearing a dress, Su."

"But I worked so hard on it!"

"No."

But-"

"No!"

"Oh, fine."

Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief.

"You can be the Tempest Ranger, instead!" She pulled out a full-body suit, this one colored black and dark blue.

"…If you had that, why did you want me to wear the dress?"

"Because I thought you would look good in it, of course!"

Keitaro banged his head against a table a few times. Even without the dress, he had no desire to go traipsing around the city fighting monsters all day. "Look, Su, I'd love to play with you, but I _really_ need to study, and…" Su turned on the puppy-dog eyes again. "This is pointless, anyway! How would we even find the monsters! The senshi can-" Tears glistened in her eyes. "…_One_ day. Tomorrow, I'll go around Tokyo with you, and if we don't find any monsters, you'll put an end to this, alright?"

"You're the best, Keitaros!" She glomped him. "Oh, it's gonna be so much fun, fighting evil, vanquishing monsters, stopping crime, having epic battles with Vegeta and The Joker and…" She continued babbling for several minutes while Keitaro tuned her out and struggled vainly to extricate himself from the hyper-active mass of girl.

Finally, she let him go. "See you bright and early tomorrow, Keitaros! Oh, and don't forget to read the instruction manual in the suit's pocket!" She dashed off to the kitchen, leaving Keitaro alone with Tama-chan and his newly-acquired super-suit.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he asked the hot-springs turtle.

"Myuh," She commiserated, landing on his shoulder and patting his head with a flipper.

* * *

Keitaro returned to his room that night, only slightly worried about what the next day would bring. Sure, he'd waste an entire day doing nothing, but it was worth it to put an end to Su's games before they got too far out of hand. He didn't really believe they'd run into any monsters. Tokyo was huge, and the news said that fewer and fewer had been appearing in the last couple of days. He figured the chances of them actually running into anything worse than a stray dog were astronomically low, and he'd be doing his best to steer Su away from anything dangerous, anyway.

Spying the manual that came with his suit – a hard-bound booklet at least half an inch thick - he picked it up and started to flip through it. After a few seconds, though, he shrugged and tossed it aside. He had more important things to study, after all.

What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

Su was true to her word, bursting into Keitaro's room at the crack of dawn and ousting him from his bed with a low-flying kick. This led directly to him being dragged blearily through the halls in nothing but his boxers, and ultimately resulted in two beatings and a partially traumatized middle-schooler before Su would let him go back to his room.

Once he was fully clothed, wide awake, and had eaten, Su once again took hold of his arm and pulled him out the door. She had her dress and his suit (and he'd made _sure_ it was the suit) in a pack slung across her shoulders.

They spent the next few hours wandering randomly around Tokyo, occasionally hopping a bus (at Keitaro's expense, of course). Nothing happened, and Su was becoming more and more hyper and impatient as the day wore on.

* * *

In a different part of the prefecture, Motoko Aoyama stalked the streets on her own monster hunt. She had kept herself hidden until Su and Urashima had left for the day. She was worried that Su would beg her to come with them if they met, and that would mean that she may be obliged to wear the… 'outfit', should Su's search prove successful.

And there was nothing and no one that could ever make her wear something that retina-destroyingly _hideous_. Not even her elder sister.

Of course, not everything Su had given her was without merit. She fingered her new sword as she walked. As katanas went, it was not a great blade, nor even a good one. It was heavy for its size, the balance was strange, the length was awkward, and the grip was too large for her hands. Even the ornamental cord and amulet hanging from its hilt – designed to look like a power plug, of all things – were more tacky than anything else. She would need to replace those at some point.

However, all of this was more than balanced by one simple thing: The power button. She had spent a few minutes testing it before she had left, and it did indeed make her attacks far more powerful once it was turned on. And not just her basic swings, which now had the added kick of an electric jolt; Due to what she could only assume was some kind of alien technology, the katana actually amplified her own ki when she channeled it through the blade, making the special attacks developed by the God's Cry School three – no, five – times more powerful than anything she could manage on her own.

Some would call that cheating, and to an extent, Motoko agreed. However, given the sheer number of monsters appearing, she felt justified in taking every advantage she could get.

Especially if she ran into another one of those demonic hell-beasts from the previous week.

Of course, carrying this blade – she was thinking of calling it Raijuu – meant that she had to leave her beloved Shisui in her room. She had no idea how she had avoided being arrested for breaking the sword ban for so many years, but she had no desire to tempt fate by carrying around an additional blade as well.

So, Motoko walked the streets of Tokyo, ready and willing to do her part to rid the world of monsters and demons. Let Su and Urashima play at being heroes; while they wasted their time wandering fruitlessly, she would be helping to save lives and the city.

Three hours and no sign of a monster later, Motoko began to see a flaw in her plan.

* * *

It was around lunch when the two would-be heroes found the first hint of a monster, in the form of a police barricade.

As they approached, a harried-looking officer held out his hand to stop them. "Sorry, you two, no one's allowed past here for the time being. One of those senshi is fighting some giant crab-monster thing, and it's doing massive damage to the area. It's far too dangerous for civilians."

Su sighed, walking away dejectedly. Both relieved and puzzled, Keitaro waited until they were out of earshot and said, "I thought you'd be suiting up and running into battle."

She sighed again. "Nah, the senshi claimed that one already. We need to find our own monster to fight. Come on, let's go find someplace that sells bananas and get lunch."

* * *

That afternoon found a very frustrated Motoko wandering through Shinjuku, berating herself. She could not believe she had forgotten to think her plan through! Now she was stuck wandering the streets like… like… like _Urashima_ of all people. Her hand tightened on her katana's hilt involuntarily, and the people around her decided to give her a wide berth.

Suddenly, a roar split the air, and people a few blocks away started to scatter in all directions. Elated that her time had finally come, she pushed through the fleeing crowd towards the source of the disturbance.

Finally reaching it, she rounded a corner, coming face-to-thigh with an enormous, green-skinned humanoid monster, easily a story tall and wearing nothing other than a loin-cloth. It carried an equally enormous club, and its head was topped by a pair of wicked bull horns – an oni, if she recalled her folk-lore correctly.

She grinned, deciding to strike while its back was still turned. Rampaging monsters deserved no honor, in her book. She turned on her katana, hearing the hum of electricity, _feeling_ the potential power. She began channeling ki into it, sensing her strength being multiplied and multiplied again. She reared the blade back, preparing to strike.

"God's Cry School: Evil Slashing-"

The blade lost power. A faint electronic voice said, "Power supply at zero-point-three percent. Please recharge."

Motoko stared at her katana in shock. She eyed the cord, ending in a plug that she had assumed to merely be the influence of Su's obsession with technology. She examined the slip of paper attached to it, which she had taken for an amulet, and discovered that it read [Warning: Batteries Only Last 5 Minutes. Plug Into Senshi Suit To Recharge.].

Her eye twitched as she gazed at what was now little more than a sub-par sword. Turning her attention back to the oni, she discovered that it had turned its attention onto her.

Oh well. Time to do things the old-fashioned way.

* * *

Sailors Neptune and Uranus raced through the city towards the youma's last location. They'd been on the other side of the area when they'd heard the roaring, caught in the middle of a crowd, and it had taken them far too long to find somewhere private to transform for their liking. Add their exhaustion from the amount of fighting they'd been doing, and… it was just not a good situation.

And on top of all this, the thing had simply _disappeared_. How something that obviously large (based on the volume of its roars) could vanish was beyond them.

Rounding a final corner, they discovered the answer: the street was covered in a layer of the ashen dust that these strange youma so often turned into once destroyed.

"…I guess one of the other senshi got here first, eh?" commented Uranus, annoyed that they'd run so far for nothing.

Neptune nodded her agreement. She certainly _hoped_ that was what had happened, but she had a nagging feeling that there was something more at work...

* * *

Late in the evening, nearly dusk, an uncharacteristically depressed Su finally declared, "I give up." She turned to her companion. "You were right, Keitaro… I guess there's really no way we can expect to fight something we can't even find. Let's… let's just go home."

Keitaro hated to see Su like this, but it was for her own good. "It's alright, Su. You had good intentions," he reassured her as the streetlights began to turn on.

A blur flashed through the air, and a light crashed to the ground, cut clean through, sparks erupting from its base. People began screaming and running in a panic.

'_So… very… close!'_ Keitaro thought to himself, too annoyed to join the hysterical crowd.

"Hello there, humans!" came a voice from above them. "We've come to give you a special message!"

He groaned inwardly. _ 'And they're even being cliché about it…'_

"Too long have you humans claimed both the day _and_ the night!" continued a second voice. "From this moment forth, it's us youkai's turn!"

A third voice, this one more feminine, finished, "You thought it was bad before? Well, the real war starts _now!_"

With that, more blurs raced along the street, signs and lamps falling and gashes appearing in buildings in their wake. People fled in all directions, miraculously avoiding the falling debris as they rushed for safety.

And throughout the mayhem, Su began smiling wider and wider. She wordlessly took Keitaro's arm, leading him into a nearby alley. She was practically bouncing with excitement as she went.

"See! See! I told you we'd get to fight monsters! Now come on, we have to suit up."

Keitaro rubbed his forehead. "Look, Su, these monsters seem more dangerous than the ones on the news. I think we should leave them to-"

"But you _promised_!" pleaded Su.

"Well, I didn't expect something this bad to show up!" '_Or anything at all'_, he silently added.

"…_Fine_ then," she declared, stomping her foot. "If you won't help, I'll just do it myself!"

"What? You can't-"

"Then you _will_ help?"

Keitaro knew he'd been forced into a corner. "…Yes, I'll help."

"Yay! I'll transform first."

Dropping her bag to one side, she spun in place, yelling "Fusion Mode Transform!" As she finished, she struck a pose, one hand raised skyward.

Nothing happened.

After a second of waiting, Keitaro raised a hand hesitantly. "Umm…"

Su broke out of her stance, grabbing the bag and zipping behind a dumpster. Clothes went flying for a few moments, and she returned, now dressed in her senshi outfit. She struck her pose again, beaming.

"It worked! OK, Keitaro, now it's your turn."

Keitaro sighed and fetched his suit from the bag, debating whether to actually change outfits or just pull it on over his clothing. He decided on the latter, and began to put it on.

"Hey!" Su admonished. "You can't do that! You need to do a transformation sequence, first."

"Tempest Mode Transform," Keitaro muttered unenthusiastically, flipping a hand in the air in a lazy approximation of Su's pose. He finished donning the suit, finding it to be surprisingly comfortable despite the layer of clothing beneath it.

"Hmmph. I don't think you're really into this," Su complained. "Oh well, we're work on it later. Let's go fight some evil!" She started towards the mouth of the alley, but then suddenly doubled back. "Almost forgot," she explained, and hit a button on Keitaro's collar.

A mask and helmet snapped up out of the suit, encasing his head. A video screen turned on in front of his eyes, giving him an orange-tinted view of the alley. Numbers and lines bordered the edges, none of which he could make heads or tails of.

"Now you're ready. Come on!" She ran off again, beckoning Keitaro after her. Keitaro followed her reluctantly, reflecting that at least with the helmet on, no one would be able to recognize him.

They reached the street, finding it empty of people and in complete ruins, though at least there were no signs that anyone had been injured or killed. The only light came from the few undestroyed lamp posts. The monsters had moved on, continuing their rampage in a thankfully more brightly lit section of the street.

Once they were close enough, Su announced, "Halt, evildoers!" Surprisingly, they did. "In the name of humanity and Science, you shall pay for your crimes! For we are… Sailor Fusion!" She struck another pose. "Aaaaand…" After waiting a moment, she hissed, "Say your name!"

"The Tempest Ranger," Keitaro monotoned obediently.

Silence for a moment, and then howling laughter came from the rooftops.

Su grinned, muttering "Gotcha!" She pulled a red and blue sphere from one of her pouches, yelled "Super Fusion Blast!" and lobbed it at the roof of a near-by building. A second later, it exploded, sending… something, Keitaro couldn't tell what, flailing through the air.

It caught itself after a moment and became a blur once more. "So, you're not as stupid as you look, eh?" it said. "Fine then, we could use some fun."

Two more blurs joined it, dashing at high speeds around the pair of supposed heroes. Su tried to throw a few more grenades, shouting out random attack names with each one, but the blurs merely changed direction without warning, dodging the blasts. Keitaro was fairly sure that Su was doing more damage to the city then the monsters were.

Suddenly, one of the blurs made a bee-line for Keitaro's head. He managed to throw himself to the ground at the last second, feeling the rush of air as it passed over him and hearing his suit rip. He rolled to stand up, luckily dodging another blur as it carved a gouge in the street.

"Use your water cannon, Tempest!" Su called, dodging her own blur in the process.

"How?" Keitaro yelled back, panic clear in his voice and desperately dodging attack after attack.

"Just press the button like the instructions said to!"

"I didn't read the instructions!"

"Well, why didn't you… Look out! Mini Fusion Grenade!" She lobbed another grenade, this one tiny, straight at Keitaro, who decided to do the intelligent thing and flee in the opposite direction. As he turned, he glimpsed one of the monsters out of the corner of his eye just before it blurred away. It looked like… a child? Something metallic had glinted in its hands.

Keitaro got several feet away from ground zero before the miniature explosive went off; far enough to avoid injury but still close enough to get caught by the blast wave. His balance faltered and, struggling to remain upright, he felt a chain wrap itself around his neck from behind. It was pulled taut as something else hit the back of his knees, and he fell onto his back on the pavement. Stars appeared in his vision as his head hit, and he heard something crack. He prayed it was the helmet.

Before he could recover, another monster landed on his stomach, driving his breath out of him. Now he could see that it wasn't a child, but rather a child-sized rodent with light-brown fur – a weasel, maybe? It had a wicked-looking curved scythe as large as itself.

The weasel grinned toothily, drawing back its scythe. "Time to die, 'hero'," it mocked, and made to bring the weapon down onto –and through – Keitaro.

Finally able to draw in breathe again, Keitaro let out a single, terrified scream… and heard his voice oddly distorted and amplified. The weasel-monster's eyes widened in shock as it was thrown away from Keitaro at high speed. It finally came to a stop when it slammed into the side of a building, almost two stories up.

The monster started falling to the ground, and one of the others – female, by its voice – shouted "Ichirou!" Keitaro turned his head as he struggled to his feet, and saw one of the two remaining blurs break off from harrying Su. She caught her comrade before it hit the ground, revealing herself to be another, slightly smaller and lighter-furred weasel. This one had a belt of pouches similar to Su's, a pair of small sickles tucked into it.

As Keitaro finally stood up, she laid her unconscious comrade gently on the ground and turned to face Keitaro, anger smoldering in her eyes. "You'll pay for that!" she spat. She pulled out her sickles and charged him, becoming a blur once more.

"Wait!" Keitaro yelled, desperate. Once again, his voice was distorted and amplified, and a wave of force – made visible by the dust from Su's sundry explosions – expanded out in front of him. The weasel dodged to one side as it came, but the wave clipped her, sending her staggering through the air and into some trashcans. She stood and targeted him once more, but then paused, grinning.

She blurred off to the side, moving to circle Keitaro, and he pivoted to keep her in sight. After turning nearly all the way around, he saw what she was doing: Su was a few yards behind him, facing away from the female weasel, all her attention on the last blur and the chain wrapped around her arms.

Keitaro's mind shut off, blocking out the panic that had been overwhelming him. He found himself running with all his might to intercept the monster threatening his friend. He noticed, in a detached sort of way, a strange feeling tingling through his body, and he recognized as the same sensation he felt _every_ time he ran after a girl.

Sure enough, just before his path would have crossed with the weasel's, he tripped, his outstretched hand catching at her waist. Had she been wearing a skirt and panties, he would have pulled down the one to reveal the other. As it stood, he merely pulled down her belt, tangling it with her legs and bringing her to a skidding halt.

He hurriedly crawled over to her, grabbing her tail before she could resume her dash towards Su. With a flash of light and a loud crackling, electricity started arcing out of his glove and into the creature, standing her hair on end as she convulsed. Surprised, Keitaro released her without thinking.

She raised one arm weakly, and muttered, "Cheater…" Then she fell limp.

Before he could do anything more, the final blur shot over his head, dragging Su along behind it on the chain so that she fell on top of him, flattening him to the ground once more. The chained loosened as she fell, and was drawn into the blur as it landed next to the female weasel, resolving into yet another weasel. This one was as large as the first youkai, but had more muscle and darker fur. The chain it wielded was wrapped around it like a sash, a long, broken handle dangling from one end – Keitaro assumed that the blade had been broken off somehow in its fight with Su.

As Su tried to stand, it picked up the fallen monster - and suddenly whirled on Keitaro, delivering a vicious kick to his head and stunning him. "_Never_ hurt my family!" it hissed, drawing back its foot again for another blow. However, it stopped when it saw that Su had almost finished standing, and instead turned and ran to where the first weasel was staggering to its feet. Carrying its sister and supporting its brother, they disappeared into the night.

Su and Keitaro watched them leave. The hyper-destructive senshi turned to Keitaro, a huge smile plastered on her face. "That was _fun_, huh, Tempest?"

Keitaro took his time standing up, using the opportunity to fight the urge to strangle the younger girl. Once he had himself under control, he fixed Su with a glare. "How can-" Once again, his voice was distorted and amplified, a wave of force sending Su tumbling end-over-end into a nearby alley.

She crawled back out, apparently unharmed, and shouted, "Your Thundering Yell got stuck on somehow! Hit the buttons on your cheeks of your helmet!"

Keitaro felt around the mask, finding and pressing the buttons in question. "Err… sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly, his voice now normal.

"WHAT?" Su yelled.

"I said 'sorry about that'!" he yelled back.

"WHAT?"

"_I said_… You know what, let's just go home."

"WHAT?"

This time it was Keitaro who led Su into an alley, stripping out of his suit and motioning for Su to change as well. They made their way home with no further incident, though Su babbled happily and loudly the entire way.

* * *

Sailor Moon rushed through the night streets as quickly as she could. She'd heard the explosions more than fifteen minutes before, but had gotten swept away by a crowd while still in her civilian clothes, and was too tired to keep up a fast pace for long.

Finally, she reached the source of the noise… and found nothing but devastation. There was no sign of a youma anywhere, not even the dust they became once defeated.

She fell to her knees in despair.

It had finally happened.

She had arrived too late.

* * *

The girls were waiting for them when they arrived at the Hinata-sou, almost an hour later, though Motoko seemed almost as tired as Keitaro. "So, you two had a good time, I see," said Naru icily as Su started describing their 'adventure' to the others in excruciating detail. Naru jerked her thumb at the common room television, and Keitaro noticed that it was playing a news report about their battle. There was no footage (thankfully), but someone had apparently witnessed the entire embarrassing thing.

The red-headed ronin pulled him into the hall. "How could you be so irresponsible?" she demanded. "You were supposed to keep her _out_ of trouble, not encourage her!"

"Well I _tried_!" he protested. "But they just appeared out of nowhere right next to us! And Su was gonna fight them with or without my help."

Naru sighed. She was all-too familiar with the way the young foreigner always seemed to get what she wanted. "Fine, I believe you… this time. At least this whole charade is done, now."

"Err…" Keitaro started, bringing forth a homicidal glare from Naru. "I… kinda promised her that we'd do this again tomorrow. But it's the last time, I swear!"

Naru worked her mouth silently. Then she slugged him. "Fine, then! Have fun playing hero with Su! But it's your fault if she gets hurt!" Naru stalked off, leaving Keitaro in the hall, nursing his jaw.

He sighed and went to his room, resolving to make up for lost time in his studies. And to read that blasted manual.

* * *

Usagi Tsukino was far too miserably to sleep. Instead, she sat in front of her television, changing the channel at every commercial and drowning her sorrows in ice cream.

She came across a late-night news channel. "In case you missed it, here's a repeat of our coverage of a very unusual monster attack earlier this evening…" She sighed, reaching for the remote again. She had no desire to watch as her failure was broadcast to the nation. "…where two new heroes emerged."

Usagi choked on a spoonful of Rocky Road.

The news cut to a recording from a few hours before, an interview with some middle-aged salaryman. "We're here with Yousuke Sanada, who witnessed a monster attack less than an hour ago. Mr. Sanada, could you tell us about what you saw?"

She spent the next half-hour glued to the television.

* * *

_Author's notes_

_Well, that's the first chapter. It ended up being shorter than I'd intended, unfortunately. This one was mostly set-up, but it will pick up later._

_In case you're wondering, this starts around the end of the seventh volume of Love Hina. As for Sailor Moon… it officially takes place 'whenever'. There's really no point in canon where all nine of them are present, but they're still weak enough to fit the story requirements. Just think of it as an AU where they all show up earlier, but still have the same personalities and relationships for some reason._

_As I said at the top, this idea was originally Irritus's. Basically, we had an idea swap; I got this, and he got a Love Hina/Touhou crossover that he may or may not write at some point before the heat-death of the universe._

_UPDATE: Corrected a few errors, cleaned up the writing._

_I'll be using a lot of creatures from Japanese folklore in this fic, so, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'll post short descriptions of them in the Author's Notes as they appear. Keep in mind that my portrayal and their portrayal in the original folklore may not necessarily match up…_

_Oni – A violent, horned humanoid monster, similar to an ogre but more intelligent. They tend to wield clubs and wear loincloths, and can vary in size from fairly small to down-right huge. For some reason, they are scared of beans. I don't know why._

_Kama-Itachi (literally 'Sickle Weasel') - A weasel-like youkai with long, sharp claws which invisibly ride the wind. They attack travelers on mountain paths, inflicting cuts that don't bleed. They tend to appear in groups of three: One to knock the victim down, one to slash them, and one to apply medicine to stop the bleeding._

_Bakekame (literally 'Monster Turtle') - I made this one up. If there can be Monster Cats, why not Monster Turtles?_

_And before you ask, Mamoru and Chibiusa will _not_ be appearing in this fic. Because I hate them. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!_


	2. Of Suspicious Cats and Genki Fangirls

_Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, Sailor Moon, or Touhou Project. …Not that Touhou has anything to do with this. I just wanted to put that out there, is all._

* * *

**Sailor Ronin**  
**Chapter 2: Of Suspicious Cats and Genki Fangirls**  
**By Raithe (With special guest author Irritus!)**

* * *

"And that was our interview with Mr. Sanada! Next up, wh-"

A flick of the remote turned the television off, and he turned his gaze to the others in the room. "So," he began, "let's start from the beginning, shall we? First of all, why did you choose that _particular_ strategically-useless street, hmm?"

The three kama-itachi looked at each other nervously for a moment before Ichirou stepped forward. "Well, we, uh, we just thought-"

"Save it!" He cut him off with a roar. "I _know_ what you were thinking, and it barely qualifies as such." The triplets cowered as he took a deep breath, regaining control of himself. "What about that speech of yours? Could you have _possibly_ been any more cliché?"

This time it was Tsubasa who answered, her naturally high voice made even higher by fear. "That… that's just what youkai always say! We did a lot of research!"

"You mean you watched a lot of movies and anime," he corrected acidly. "And you've made us look ridiculous and incompetent in the process." His glare sent her cowering behind her brothers. "_And_ you didn't even manage to kill a single senshi! In fact, you brought two more out of the woodwork!"

Jirou came to his siblings' defense. "We can't help that! It's not like they would've just changed their minds about being heroes if we hadn't shown up!"

He sighed. "Yes, I suppose you do have a point."

Emboldened, Jirou continued. "Besides, these two seem _really_ incompetent."

"And yet you lost anyway."

"Well…" Jirou hesitated. "…We _almost_ won?"

"About the only thing you did right yesterday was that you didn't hurt any civilians." He fixed them with a steady gaze. "You realize what a failure like this means, don't you?"

"What? No! Please! Not that!" Ichirou pleaded.

"You three shall…"

"No! Have mercy on us!" Tsubasa begged.

"Have your pay cut by twenty percent!"

The triplets' despairing wails echoed throughout the compound's corridors.

* * *

"And that was our interview with Mr. Sanada! Next up, what happens wh-"

With a small hop and a swiping paw, Luna turned the television off. She turned back to the gathered senshi.

"I do not like it," Rei said, pacing back and forth across the room.

"Aww, but why not?" asked Usagi. "With all these youma showing up, we could use the help!"

"It _might_ be helpful, if they weren't so destructive," Makoto put in, rubbing her forehead. "That guy in the interview said they broke more stuff than the youma."

"Maybe we could, I don't know, train them or something?" Minako hedged. "Their hearts _are_ in the right place, after all…"

"You are assuming too much, Minako." Rei shook her head. "It is possible this is some sort of trick."

Luna seconded the idea. "I agree. In fact, I find it _very_ likely that they're youma themselves, trying to con their way onto our good side so that they can destroy us from within!"

Artemis stared at his fellow feline for a moment. "…While I wouldn't go _quite_ that far, I do agree that we need to be careful. Their timing was rather… convenient."

"Not to mention how cliché the whole thing was. The way that guy described it, it sounded like a bad manga," Makoto added.

"I'm sure they were just caught up in the moment!" Usagi said, coming to the absent 'heroes'' defense. "Besides, I think some of that stuff Sailor… Fusion? Some of the stuff she said sounded cool!"

"You would," Rei said simply, rolling her eyes.

"Hey!"

As the two started bickering, Minako turned to the last girl in the room. "Ami? You haven't said much. What do you think about all this?"

"I think…" the dark-haired girl began slowly, "that we should probably find those two before the outers do."

* * *

"And that was our interview with Mr. Sanada! Next up, what happens when you m-"

Naru let out an annoyed mutter and fumbled for the remote, turning the television off. "I don't see why they have to keep repeating that stupid story," she grumbled, settling back down on the couch in the common room.

"What do you expect?" asked Kitsune, joining her. "A pair of new 'heroes' have emerged. Of course they're not gonna let that story die."

"They didn't talk about the _real_ heroes this much!" Naru countered.

"Yes they did."

"…Well, at least _they_ deserve the praise. I really don't want to have to hear about that pervert this early in the day."

"Then why did you sit through the interview again?"

"Umm… because… uh…"

"I think sempai and Su were cool!" Shinobu piped up from the other couch. "Fighting off monsters, rescuing damsels in distress…" Her eyes glazed over as she drifted into fantasy.

"Nothing that dork does can _ever_ be considered cool," Sarah proclaimed from next to Shinobu.

"And he's more likely to feel up any 'damsels' he finds then rescue them," Naru added. "_And_ he's off alone with poor Su again right now, too."

"From what I saw, 'poor' Su was practically dragging him along behind her when they left," Kitsune informed her.

"Well, he obviously…" She paused for a moment, thinking. "…And where's Motoko, anyway? She was gone yesterday, too."

Kitsune and Sarah shrugged (Shinobu was still off in dream-land), and the one-time ronin grabbed the remote and turned the television back on.

* * *

"And that was our interview with Mr. Sanada! Next up, what happens when you mix sake with ye-"

Rolling her eyes, Motoko strode out of earshot. She had heard the whole thing the previous night, both from the news and from Su herself.

She had left early that morning – before Urashima and Su, in fact – and was determined to locate and fell another youkai before the day was through. Her wanderings had brought her to Akibahara, in front of what was apparently an appliance store, given the televisions in the storefront window.

Her hand idly brushed against her katana. She'd brought Shisui today, Raijuu having been rendered useless by its mere five-minute charge. She idly wondered how long she would need to search before finding a youkai.

Shrugging her shoulders, she continued down the street. She was sure that she would run into one… eventually.

* * *

"And that was our interview with Mr. Sanada! Next up, what happens when you mix sake with yeast? Find ou-"

Su was practically bouncing in the booth with glee. "Hey! Hey, Keitaros! They were talking about u-"

The rest of her statement was lost in an incomprehensible mumble as Keitaro lunged across the table, clamping his hand over Su's mouth. "What part of 'secret' identities have you forgotten?" he hissed in her ear. He glanced furtively around the diner they'd stopped in, wondering if anyone had heard her.

"mm rmgrnl rn?"

"Well, be more careful!" He suddenly noticed that all eyes had turned on him – including several people looking through the outside window. They began pointing and whispering, and, not wishing to be arrested for assault or kidnapping, Keitaro quickly released the short blonde.

After taking a quick gasp of air, Su assured, "Heh, sorry Keitaros. I'm just so excited!"

Keitaro sighed, head in his hands. _Hopefully_ they wouldn't run into any more monsters any time soon, but the way his luck was running he wasn't counting on it.

Su continued her hyper chattering. "Do you think we'll see any senshi today? I mean, now that we're officially…" Keitaro gave her a warning look. "…'fans', they've gotta meet us, right?"

"I… don't think it works that way, Su."

"Aww…"

The waitress came by with their orders – including a banana-split for Su that made Keitaro ill just looking at it – and the two dug in.

* * *

Motoko refused to be disheartened, even after several hours of searching without a sign of a youkai. She knew it was just a matter of time before one reared its head. Perhaps she would find one in this park?

No sooner had the thought entered her mind then a scream rent the air. Checking behind her, she found a young woman held by some unknown being that had definitely not been there a moment before. It _seemed_ to be human, except for its red skin and monstrous, oversized fangs. The youkai opened its jaws wide, ready to bite into the woman's neck.

In one fluid motion, Motoko whirled, drawing her sword and slashing with a yell of "God's Cry School: Evil Slashing Sword: Second Form!" Even before she'd finished the overly-long attack name, a blade of pure ki sliced through the air, cleaving the monster in two and turning it to dust while leaving the woman unharmed. She collapsed to the ground in terror and relief as Motoko rushed to her side. The others in the park began applauding.

"Are you all right, miss?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, thank you so-"

Her clothing fell to pieces.

Silence reigned.

The woman looked down herself, unbelieving. She looked at Motoko, expression blank.

The silence was broken when she slapped Motoko in the face – _hard_ – before diving into some nearby bushes. "Pervert!"

Motoko rubbed her jaw, idly wondering if this was how Urashima felt. She shook her head; _this_ was just a misunderstanding – Urashima brought his pain upon himself!

Before she could attempt to rectify the situation, she saw the air shimmer out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face it, another of those… _things_ materialized and leapt at her, sharp, glistening nails extended.

Without thinking, she again swung her blade, cleaving it as well. As dust showered down on her, more and more creatures began to appear on all sides, easily numbering in the dozens. People began fleeing in all directions – those who could, at least. A handful were trapped alongside Motoko within the still growing ring of youkai.

Motoko steeled herself for the battle ahead. She was determined to protect everyone, even if it meant her life.

* * *

Several hours of pointless wandering later, Keitaro and Su decided to have lunch back at the same diner they'd eaten at before – Su had taken a liking to their banana-splits. As they approached the street it was on, however, they noticed something amiss: The street was devoid of people, and there were odd, loud chewing noises coming from around the corner.

Motioning Su to silence (which she somehow managed), Keitaro poked his head around the corner. In front of the diner was a large, horned, orange, humanoid creature, reaching to nearly twice Keitaro's height. It clutched an equally giant club, and it was emptying crates of food – stolen from a nearby abandoned delivery truck – into its mouth with its free hand.

Silently cursing his luck, he pulled his head back. "It's a monster. Its back is turned to us, so we should-"

"Charge in and take it out?" she whispered back excitedly.

"What? No! We need to think strategically from now on!"

"Oh, fine. Let's get changed first, though." She pointed at a nearby handy alley.

Half a minute later, they were back in their position at the corner. "Okay," Keitaro instructed, "here's the plan: You ambush it from here with your bombs before it notices us, while I use the time to dash in and electrocute it. Then-"

"Got it!" Su interrupted. Before Keitaro could react, she dashed into the middle of the street and lobbed one of her grenades with a shout of "Fusion Cluster Bomb!" At her yell, the monster turned in her direction and caught the bomb full in the nose, causing it to drop its club in surprise as the orb flew apart. Dozens of tiny balls fell about the monster and detonated.

Keitaro slapped his forehead at the sight of the devastation wrought on the area.

"Fusion Jet Kick!"

Keitaro's attention was brought back to Su, who was running down the street. As the smoke around the monster cleared, she launched into one of her signature flying kicks, catching it in the center of its chest.

It didn't even flinch.

As Su rebounded, it caught her out of the air by her legs. Keitaro started to dash madly towards them as it gave Su a vicious shake, dizzying her.

"Churga… What's this?" it mocked in a deep, guttural voice, all its attention focused on the hapless would-be senshi. "I wonder how good a club _you'll_ make?"

As it reared Su back to smash her into the side of the diner, Keitaro finally reached the pair. Desperate, he dove for its ankles, twitching his hands to start the energy flowing.

On contact, thousands of volts of electricity flowed into the monster – and Su as well. They convulsed for a second before Keitaro finally released his grip and cut the power. The now unconscious monster loosed its grip on Su and dropped to the ground like a stone. Su – who _was_ conscious, somehow – landed head-first on top of Keitaro.

She rolled off of him and got to her feet, hair frizzed out and grinning crazily. "Well, that could have gone better, huh, Tempest? Hee hee…"

Keitaro glared at her through his mask. "_Why_ didn't you follow the plan?"

"Hey, no worries! It all worked out, right?"

Keitaro started twitching.

"Oh no!" Su gasped.

"What? What is it?"

"You didn't say 'Tempest Lightning Grip', or anything! We'll have to do this over again!"

Keitaro was silent for a moment. Something snapped.

He grabbed Su by her shoulders, pulling the shorter girl off her feet and face-to-face with him. "Don't you get it?" he shouted. "This isn't a game! You could have _died_!"

"It's not-"

"Yes it is! You can't go around fighting monsters without some sort of plan! In fact, you shouldn't be doing it at all!"

"But you-"

"_I'm_ practically indestructible, _you_ aren't! How do you think the rest of us would feel if you were hurt? Or killed? Consider _our_ feelings for a change!"

"Tempest-"

"NO! I'm not done yelling yet!"

"But the monster-"

"Was about to smash you to bits! You _cannot_ keep playing hero, do you understand me?"

She hung her head miserably. "Yes, Keitaro…"

"Good. _Now_, what did you want to say?"

"Well… I was gonna warn you that the monster was back up, but it's kinda pointless now."

"What?" Keitaro turned to look behind him and found that the monster was, indeed, back on its feet – and moments away from smashing the two of them with its massive club.

Without thinking, he threw Su clear, whirling around and raising his hands in a feeble defense. He just _knew_ this was going to hurt.

Then a bolt of lightning struck the monster. It dropped the club once more, the tree-thick weapon landing mere feet in front of Keitaro.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" A glowing golden disk struck the monster, turning it to a fine dust before boomeranging back.

Keitaro and Su followed its path and discovered three senshi – Mercury, Moon, and Jupiter, if Keitaro remembered the news correctly – striking battle poses some twenty feet away, now focused on the two of them.

Moon pointed at them and announced, in a tone rival only to Su's performance the previous night in clichédness, "So we've finally found you, and not a moment too soon! Just who are you and what do you to think you're doing? Are you enemy or ally?"

Keitaro racked his brain for a way to diffuse the situation before a fight broke out between them. Horrifying visions played through his mind, not only of them being thoroughly trounced by the girls, but also of all the accidental gropings and strippings he'd inevitably perpetrate on the heroines. And then even more horrifying visions of the beatings they'd give him over his unintentional perversions.

Before he could speak, Su beat him to it with a high-pitched squeal. "Oh. My. God! I am your biggest fan! You're the inspiration for this whole thing! Tempest said we couldn't meet you, but I _knew_ he was wrong! Can I have your autographs?" She was literally bouncing with excitement. Pulling a pen and a pad of paper from her satchels, she ran over to join the stunned senshi and thrust them into Moon's hands. "Make it out to Ka… I mean, 'Sailor Fusion'!"

"Uuuh… Sure?" Sailor Moon scrawled on the paper as Keitaro resignedly joined the four girls. No sooner had Moon finished then Su grabbed the pen and paper back, staring at the signature with another squeal and repeating the process with the other two senshi.

"That… was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen," Keitaro commented as Su hugged her newly acquired autographs.

"Meh, I've seen worse," Jupiter said.

"You only think that because you don't live with her."

"Why? Is she really that bad? …Wait a second!" She snapped out of her confused state, taking a combat stance once more. "You still haven't answered our questions! Who are you?" The other two senshi gave a start and copied her, though Moon seemed rather half-hearted about it.

"Well, we're-" Keitaro began.

"You're newest team-mates!" Su finished, drawing gasps and shocked expressions from everyone present. "I'm Sailor Fusion, Mistress of Science and Explosions, and that's The Tempest Ranger, Master of the Storm's Fury!"

This was the first Keitaro had heard of any of this. "Uh, Fusion? A word?" He drew her a short distance away, took a calming breathe, and yelled, "_What do you think you're doing?_"

"Uh… I think the senshi heard you, Tempest."

"They were supposed to." Keitaro turned to the other three. "Look, I'm sorry about this. Fusion just… gets these ideas, sometimes…"

"Hey!"

"You can't just go around deciding things for people! You know that!"

"Oh yeah? Then why are _you_ trying to decide things for _me_ right now?"

"What? No I'm not!"

"Yeah you are! You decided that I couldn't join their team!"

"That's… I didn't…"

"Umm… Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere more private?" Mercury suggested, breaking into their argument before it could get any more ridiculous. "How about that diner?"

"Oooh! They have the best banana-splits! Come on, let's go!" Su dashed off and through the diner's door. Keitaro followed more slowly, head in his hands.

* * *

Dust covered the ground in a wide radius around Motoko, smothering the grass. She stalked a tired, protective circle around the seven terrified civilians, now clustered in the center of the ring made by the creatures. Her hakama was torn in several places, though aside from a small scratch to her calf the youkai had not yet harmed her or the others.

They were keeping well back, now, chattering in their strange language. After some twenty of their number had been slain over the course of a few minutes, they had learned what happened when they got too close.

Motoko had learned as well, no longer bothering to use Evil Slashing Sword against them; they could easily dodge at that distance, and she needed to conserve her energy. At least no more of them had appeared, but even so, she doubted she could kill them all if they rushed in all at once.

Suddenly, the chattering took on a different tone, almost like… laughter? One more youkai strode up to the ring across the grass, this one in a different, elderly-looking and wearing almost ceremonial garb. It lifted its scepter above its head, chanting in a rhythmic, musical tone. After a few moments, the others took it up as well.

Motoko's eyes widened as the spell hit her. Her vision swam. Her ears rang. Her head felt like it was about to explode. Dropping her sword, she collapsed to her knees and clutched her head against the pain, dimly aware that those she was protecting were doing the same.

The youkai began to draw near, slowly, confident that they had won. Motoko reached for Shisui, but the _pain_ wouldn't let her do any more than weakly grasp it. One of the creatures stood over her, grinning tauntingly, and she knew the fight was over.

A whirlwind sprang up around Motoko and the others, tossing away the youkai that had come too close.

The pain faded as the winds raged, and Motoko got to her feet, hair playing in the relative calm of the storm's center. The whirlwind died down, revealing a good half of the youkai splayed on the ground, stirring weakly or not at all.

A form – Motoko's vision was still swimming, it almost seemed to have _wings_ – began to rush about the battlefield. Youkai fell as it rushed past, turning to dust, and still more were slain and harried by the blades of wind the person sent out.

Not letting her confusion stop her for long, Motoko hefted her blade and ran to help with a battle cry, finishing those on the ground and any that came too close. As her vision returned, she became more aggressive. Within minutes, she and her benefactor had cleared the park of the creatures.

Turning to the person to give her thanks, she stopped, mouth agape: He _did_ have wings! And a red mask with a long, pointed nose, as well – a tengu! Motoko brought her katana to a ready stance once more, praying she had the energy for one more battle.

The tengu merely sheathed its own sword – a straight blade of western design – and bowed to her. "I apologize," it said, then took to the sky and flew away before she could respond, hawk's wings spread wide.

Motoko stared after it. _Why would a youkai help a human? _ She was unable to fathom it.

Whimpering drew her attention to the others, huddled on the ground. The little boy began crying as his mother tried to comfort him.

Motoko thrust her questions aside. She had more important things to worry about at the moment.

* * *

Ami joined the others at one of the diner's tables, after first making sure that the wood-and-metal door was securely locked. They'd already drawn down the blinds at her insistence. Officially, it was to keep the meeting secret. Unofficially, she had no desire to risk allowing any of the inevitable ensuing stupidity to be caught on camera.

"So, you want to join us, right?" Usagi began the meeting, pushing the abandoned plates of food out of the way. "Well… We _could_ use the help…"

"We could use _experienced_ help," Makoto corrected. "The little we've seen you two do hasn't been all that impressive."

"Aww, you just caught us at a bad time, is all. You should have seen us last night!" Sailor Fusion assured them.

"You mean when you let those youma get away?" Makoto pointed out.

"Well… You're always supposed to let the bad guy get away the first time, you know?"

"What?" Ami asked, incredulous. "Who told you that? If they get away, they just come back later and hurt more people."

"Nah, I could tell that they weren't trying to hurt anyone. 'Cept us, of course."

The Tempest Ranger spoke up, "Actually, I think she's right about that. Those three could have hurt a lot of people if they wanted to…"

"Regardless!" Makoto cut them off. "They might hurt people next time! You just can't trust a youma."

"Youkai."

"Eh?"

"Um, they're youkai, not youma." Tempest shrugged at their befuddled expressions, his masked face belying no emotions. "When they introduced themselves, they called themselves 'youkai.' I don't even know what a youma _is_, but I'm certain these things aren't them." He awkwardly put a hand on the back of his helmet.

"Youkai, youma, simple semantics. Maybe they're just some new type."

"Well, there's, um, also one other thing."

"Like…?"

"Well, they also don't look like any youma you've probably faced before."

Makoto looked at him suspiciously. "And how would you know that?"

Tempest fidgeted with his hands. The room was silent until Fusion squealed giddily and slapped her cheeks. "Eee! You read them! You actually read them!"

Usagi swung her head back and forth between the two probationary heroes. "Read what?"

"I only glanced!" Tempest blurted out. He waved his hands frantically. "You wouldn't leave me alone until you shoved nearly your entire collection at me!"

"What is he talking about?"

"Your fanzines!" Fusion explained.

"…our what?"

"Your fanzines! I have _all_ of them! Or at least most of them. Well, except for the really mature-rated ones. Those got destroyed when Naru-yan found them on Tempest."

"Ix-nay on the identities-ay!"

Usagi looked at Ami. "We have fanzines?"

"I…guess…?" She turned back to Tempest. "But what does that have to do with anything? And why does it prove that these 'youkai' aren't youma?"

"Well, it doesn't, I mean it doesn't exactly, that is to say I don't-"

"Spit it out, man!"

Tempest placed his hands on his knees, gripped them tightly, and ground out, "All photos of you fighting show youma as humanoid thingies! _Female_ humanoid thingies! _Naked_ female humanoid thingies! Naked female humanoid thingies that look more like they belong in fetish magazines than like soul-devouring monsters! Ah, please don't hit me!" He looped both arms above his helmet and ducked down, trying to show as least of his body as he could.

Usagi tilted her head and put a finger to her lips. "Actually, we _do_ fight some pretty kinky-looking youma. Remember the one that was made out of ivy and…" She was cut off when Ami and Makoto each slapped a hand over her mouth.

Makoto laughed, her face strained. "Haha, well, Moon has a point there, so maybe we should give this a little more thought. I mean, it's not like it could hurt to do a little research." She glanced over to Ami. "Right?"

Before she could respond, a raspy voice echoed from outside the diner. "Senshi~i! Oh, senshi~i! Where a~are yo~ou? Come out and pla~ay"

"What the…" Usagi went over to the window and peered through the blinds. "An umbrella?"

Ami and the rest joined her, looking out into the street. An umbrella-like youma was pogoing down the street on its bamboo pole, its single huge eye peering from its red 'body' in all directions as its over-sized tongue lolled. Something about the situation bothered Ami.

"I know you're around here so~omewhe~ere!"

"…I think that's the most ridiculous youma I've ever seen," Makoto whispered.

"Wait…" Suddenly, Ami knew what was bothering her. She beckoned the others to a table and materialized her Mercury Computer. After a few seconds of searching, her suspicions were confirmed, and she turned the screen so the others could see it. "That's something from folk-lore, a Karakasa! Sort of like… an umbrella that's come to life." An idea occurred to her, and she drew her friends in closer.

"Those things are supposed to be _really_ weak," she whispered to them. "Why don't we send these two out to fight it, and see how they do?"

"I don't know…" Usagi said, uncertain. "What if they get hurt?"

"Then we'll be right here to step in," Ami assured her. "And if they have trouble with something like this, then they definitely shouldn't be doing this."

"I'm all for it!" Makoto agreed.

"Well… Alright."

The three of them got out of their huddle, and Usagi addressed the two probationary heroes. "OK, you two, here's your test: Go out there and defeat that youma!"

"Right!" Sailor Fusion yelled, dashing for the door. The Tempest Ranger followed more slowly after her.

An explosion outside immediately rocked the building.

"Are you _sure_ this will be OK?" Usagi asked, worried.

Ami dematerialized her computer. "Look, unless they blow themselves up, they're in no real danger. The folk-lore couldn't be _that_ wrong, could it?"

They started towards the window again. A scream from outside caught their attention, and Tempest dashed back through the door, Fusion clutched in his arms. He slammed the door shut again, panting, and barricaded it with his body. Grating laughter could be heard from outside.

"Really?" Makoto asked with a hint of a mocking tone. "You had trouble with something _that_ easy?"

"You call something like that 'easy'?" he demanded, still clutching his struggling comrade.

"Well, yeah, Mercury-"

Something red sawed through the door – metal and all – a hairs-breadth above his helmet.

"-has apparently underestimated the thing."

The terrified ranger dove away from the door as the youma slammed into it and an enormous dent appeared. One more slam, and the door broke off its hinges, falling inwards and snapping where it had been sawed through.

"Heeeeere's Yori!" the karakasa crowed. It shot through the air towards Makoto, spinning like a drill. The brunette threw herself to the floor and the youma sailed over her, hitting the counter at the back of the diner – and ripping through it as easily as if it were made of paper.

Usagi tossed her tiara after it, but just before it hit the youma swung around like a baseball bat, smacking it away and into Tempest's head. The glowing disk ricocheted widely around the room, tearing up furniture and forcing Ami, Usagi, and Fusion to join the other two on the floor, lest they get hit as well.

"He~ey! It's no fun if you kill yourse~elves!" the karakasa mocked, hopping gleefully on the remains of the counter. It smacked the tiara again as it zipped past him, sending it flying straight for Usagi's head. The blonde managed to snatch it out of the air, however, and Ami grabbed the opportunity.

"Shabon Spray!" The diner filled with a spray of mist and bubbles. She started crawling towards the exit, silently motioning the others to do the same as the youma looked around blindly.

Then she realized that Tempest and Fusion couldn't see through it either. A loud crunch from her left drove that point home as Tempest stumbled into a table, overturning it and noisily spilling its contents on the floor. The youma instantly focused on his location, readying itself for another drill attack.

Thinking quickly, Ami knocked another table into its path as it shot forwards. It didn't stop the thing, but it _did_ alter the karakasa's path enough to protect Tempest. As the youma came to a stop and tried to reorient itself, Ami grabbed a nearby fallen salt-shaker and pitched it at the far wall, where it shattered.

"Found yo~ou!" It crooned, and set off towards the noise – this time spinning like a top rather than a drill. The mist swirled and parted in its wake.

Ami started to crawl over to Tempest, but was beaten to it by Fusion. Once the short girl reached him, she quickly tapped his helmet a few times, and drew him towards the door. They both seemed to be able to see now, so Ami followed after them. A few feet from the door, Fusion paused, whispering, and rolled a metal orb past Ami and towards the confused youma. Ami and Tempest quickened their paces.

She emerged from the mist, exiting the diner hot on their heels and immediately regaining her feet to dash away from it. Yet another explosion shook the building, not quite drowning out the shrill scream from within. What was left of the diner's window shattered outwards in a rain of glass and random debris as the mist dissipated in the blast.

"That's got it!" declared Fusion, giving the victory sign. "The Fusion Mega Flare can't be beat!"

Makoto rubbed her temples. "Did you have to completely destroy that place?" she asked.

"Aw, it's not like it wasn't destroyed already after what Moon did."

"Hey!" whined the blonde. "How was I supposed to kn-"

"_You_ are very annoying! What fu~un!" The karakasa hopped out the shattered window, apparently unharmed. It began spinning like a top through the air again, aiming for the gathered heroes.

Tempest put his hands to his face, shouting "Don't you dare!" His voice came out strangely amplified and distorted, and an unseen wave picked up the dust and smaller debris, blowing it along. When it reached the youma, the thing faltered, wobbling in place.

Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Makoto's tiara crackled with electricity as she shouted "Supreme Thunder!" at the same time that Fusion yelled "Fusion Fire Pillar!" and tossed a disc at the ground beneath the youma. It snapped its shade shut as lightning struck it from in front and an upward blast caught it from below.

It burst from the cloud of smoke in another drilling charge, and the five of them scattered in all directions. As it turned for another dash, Tempest thrust his hands towards it, and twin jets of water shot out in short bursts. The first few missed, striking the street and buildings with enough force to break pieces off.

Seeing the destruction, the karakasa broke off its next attack, instead opening its shade and leaning forward like a shield. Any water blasts that hit it ricocheted harmlessly off in random directions as it spun.

With it distracted once more, Ami dashed around it. With a yell of "Shine Aqua Illusion!" she sent a ghostly ball of water at the ground under the youma. A pillar of water burst upwards, catching it and sending it high into the air. Usagi took off her tiara, getting ready to finish it off.

Suddenly, the youma began to glow and spin, tilting around wildly as it laughed. Blades of energy flew in all directions, slicing into the street and buildings alike. Usagi lost a few inches off of one of her pigtails as she barely dodged aside.

The five of them took cover wherever they could; Ami and Fusion ended up crouching together around the corner of a nearby building. The short blonde pulled a backpack from behind a dumpster and started rooting around in it.

"What are you doing?" Ami asked her, not quite believing that she'd take the time to loot.

"Deploying my secret weapon!" she said simply. She smiled, finding what she wanted, and pulled out…

…A mechanical turtle in a fuku?

"Sailor Mecha Tamago Mark 3, Attack!" She threw it into the air. Ami gaped as twin jets burst from it, and it flew towards the rampaging youma, deftly dodging around blades of energy and ramming it out of the sky.

For some reason, Fusion looked disappointed. "Aw, it was supposed to shoot machineguns and stuff. They must have jammed."

With that, the turtle exploded. Somehow, Ami wasn't surprised.

The force of the blast sent the karakasa hurtling towards ground near Tempest's hiding spot. He immediately jumped on it, attempting to pin it. It managed to wriggle free of his grasp, however, and turned to slice its would-be captor.

Makoto hit it with another blast of lightning before it had the chance, this time catching it with its shade open. Tempest sent another vocal shockwave at it while it was stunned, bowling it down the street, where Fusion threw another bomb at it. It managed to snap shut just in time, but was blown skywards once more.

All of them immediately began pelting it with every attack that could reach it, and – though it managed to dodge or deflect everything – it flew off higher into the sky and away from them, spinning with its shade open. Usagi took careful aim and threw her tiara at one last time, the glowing disc zooming straight for it.

Just before it hit, the shade snapped shut, and the tiara bounced harmlessly off of it, heading back towards its wielder. The karakasa continued its retreat unhindered.

The group stood in the street, panting, both exhilarated at having won and disappointed that they couldn't finish the thing off. Fusion turned to the three senshi, face beaming, and demanded, "So, did we pass? We did, didn't we? Oh, don't tell me we failed. I keep telling Tempest to yell out his attack names, but he never listens, and-"

She continued chattering excitedly for several minutes before Usagi managed to break in. "Uh… Look, just… give us a bit to discuss it with the rest of the Sailor Senshi, OK? We'll meet you at… uh… Hachiko's statue at three tomorrow."

"Yay!" Fusion started bouncing in place before launching herself at Tempest and wrapping around him in a painful-looking hug. "That means yes! That totally means yes!"

"We're going to head out, now," Makoto announced, turning to stride away and pulling her friends along with her. "You two should head home."

"Oka~ay!" Fusion waved at them as they left.

Once they were out of ear-shot, Makoto spoke up. "What do you think? Should we really let them join us?"

"They certainly are inexperienced," Ami answered thoughtfully. "But we should probably keep them close, at least so we can keep an eye on them."

Usagi crossed her arms "I don't see a problem with it. I mean, we might have lost if they weren't there."

"Or we might have defeated it while it was still wandering around in the mist," Makoto asserted.

They continued their debate as they strode down the street.

* * *

"It's gonna be so much fun! Oh, can you imagine it? We'll be fighting side by side with the famous Sailor Senshi!"

"I think we just did," Tempest answered as they changed back into their regular outfits. "And they haven't said yes yet."

"Party-pooper!" Fusion stuck her tongue out at him.

"…By the way, how did you manage to build another Tamago so quickly?"

"Oh, that? I'd built it a while ago. I just stuck a uniform on it." She frowned. "And now I have to start all over again, too…"

The two continued their conversation as they left, never noticing the black form stalking behind them. When they boarded a train, she leapt onto its roof and clung on for dear life; it was worth any risk to find out what they were _really_ up to.

Finally, they climbed up the stairs to old inn and went inside. Luna gave a small smile. She'd learned many things this night – who they were, where they lived, even the secret behind some of their 'powers'. She hadn't learned they're true motivations though, as they were apparently too paranoid to reveal them even when they thought themselves alone.

Still, what she had learned was a start, and a good one at that. Now she just had to pass the information onto someone more capable than she at dealing with… problems.

She nearly collapsed in tears when she realized she'd need to take the train again to get back.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_And there's the second chapter done. This took _way_ longer to finish than I thought it would, largely because the semester started. Still fairly short, too; apparently, that's just my writing style._

_There's a section of dialogue between the senshi and Keitaro & Su that was written by Irritus due to severe writers block on my part. See if you can spot it!_

_Also, in case it wasn't clear, Motoko's and Keitaro's scenes are happening at about the same time._

_UPDATE: Changed the attack names to Japanese, fixed a typo-induced plothole, threw in a bit of Oni language, and generally fixed up the writing._

_New Youkai_

_Rakshasa – OK, I'll admit this one's cheating. Humanoid Tibetan monsters from Bhuddist legends that attack and eat humans, have poisonous nails, and can use magic and illusions. Why are they in Japan? Perhaps they immigrated._

_Tengu – A Humanoid youkai with bird wings. Can create whirlwinds with a maple-leaf fan._

_Karakasa-Obake – A bamboo umbrella which has existed for 100 years and gained life. Tend to fly/hop around and scare people. A specific kind of Tsukumo-gami, which is any object which has gained life through long existence. As you can probably tell, I gave this one a rather extreme power-up._


	3. Breaking the Ice

_Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Hina, and I don't own Love Moon. Also, that second one totally sounds like a bad shoujo series. …Or possibly a bad hentai series._

* * *

**Sailor Ronin**  
**Chapter 3: Breaking the Ice**  
**By Raithe**

* * *

He narrowed his eyes as the tengu entered.

"You wished to speak to me?" his general asked, not showing any worry or, indeed, any emotion at all. Not that this was unusual.

"Why, yes, Shouta. Yes I did." He kept his voice pleasant – losing control of his temper would only make this even more aggravating than it had to be. "I received your report that you killed a number of rakshasa in the park yesterday."

"That is correct."

"And that you also protected a woman who had been fighting them off – and rather skillfully, at that."

"That is also correct."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

He took a moment to calm himself. Not for the first time, he wished he could tell what the tengu was thinking. "_Why_ did you help a human who was fighting us? And kill dozens of youkai in the process?"

"Did you not order us to avoid harming civilians whenever possible?"

"Yes, but-"

"And surely you remember that my report said that those rakshasa had been attacking civilians when I intervened?"

"But did you-"

"And you know from experience that they are impossible to control when there are so many gathered, correct?"

"_OK!_ So you _may_ have had a good reason to kill them!" he yelled, anger creeping into his voice against his will. "This does _not_ explain why you allowed that human with the sword to live."

"I saw no evidence that she was fighting 'us', only defending herself and other civilians," Shouta answered with that infuriating calmness of his. "Had she been wearing a senshi uniform, of course I would have taken measures against her."

"Yes… 'of course' you would have." He glared at the other youkai, but let out a resigned sigh. He just couldn't understand how Shouta always managed to win these arguments. "She should still be watched, just in case. Go tell… hmm… the Dageki siblings to follow her. They're good at staying hidden."

"As you say." The tengu turned and left, not even waiting to be dismissed. Not that _this_ was unusual, either.

Another figure entered moments later, unbidden. "I believe I have a plan to eliminate the senshi's threat."

"Really, Aoi? Let's hear it." He slowly smiled as the plan unfolded before him. Yes, that just might work, and without losing any more lives.

* * *

Motoko awoke groggily, wincing at the mild pain in her head. To be expected after yesterday's run-in, true, but still unpleasant.

She stumbled her way sleepily to the bathroom, performing her morning ablutions before checking the small bandage on her calf. How she had been so careless as to allow one of those things had to scratch her, she did not know.

She frowned at the wound – it hadn't healed as much as it should have – but shrugged, applying some more medicine to it and changing the bandage. A wound that small was nothing to worry about, and that was that. As an afterthought she took some aspirin for her headache.

Now fully awake, she returned to her room to prepare for the day's hunt. Garbed in her hakama and with Shisui at her waste, she left her room once more.

Naru was standing in the hall outside it, waiting for her, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently. "Finally awake, I see?"

"I am up no later than usual, Naru. I always rise with the dawn, you know that."

The red-head stared at her incredulously. "…It's ten-o-clock."

"What?" She glanced at her clock for the first time, and found it read 10:08. "…I must have been more tired than usual."

"And why would that be, hmm?"

"I… was merely training harder than usual," she hedged. She did not wish to lie to Naru, but neither did she want her to know of her 'excursions'. She and the others might… overreact.

Naru overreacted anyway. "Training? You call fighting fifty monsters at once _training_?"

She winced. "How did you learn of that?"

"It was _only_ all over the news this morning. 'A tall, black-haired girl with a sword' who could 'slash from a dozen yards away'. Who else could it be?"

She sighed. There was no use hiding it now. "I was merely doing my part to help protect the people of this country."

"Your 'part'? It's bad enough that Keitaro and Su are out their risking their lives, but _you_… Why can't you just leave this to the professionals?"

Now _that_ irked her. "Narusegawa, I come from a long line of master swordsman. I was taught demon-slaying arts practically since birth. I have demonstrated my skill time and time again since coming here. In what way am I not a 'professional'?"

The ronin opened her mouth to respond, closed it again, and repeated the process several times before finally settling on, "You could have at least told us…"

"I did not wish to worry you all." She did not wish to be lectured, either, though that was now a lost cause.

"Well, we _are_ worried. Those people in the interview said that you nearly died. That you _would_ have if someone hadn't shown up to save you."

"And if I had not been there, all seven of them would be dead now, and perhaps many more. If you must lecture someone, save it for Su and Urashima. They, at least, cause more destruction than good." This conversation was making her head hurt more, painkillers or no.

Naru's expression changed to the one she wore whenever she was too stubborn to admit that she had lost an argument. "And what about your school-work? Or have you forgotten all about that?"

"The safety of this country comes before the education of one person. The senshi cannot be everywhere at once." Naru started to protest, but she cut her off. "Rest assured that I have not abandoned my academic career completely. I have been picking up and completing my homework after school each day."

The red-head glared at her, but was apparently unable to come up with any further arguments. "Just… promise you'll be careful, Motoko."

"I am always careful, Naru."

She strode past the ronin and out of the hotel, determined to make good time to Tokyo, idly wondering how she could have overslept by such a large margin.

* * *

"This sucks!"

"You've mentioned," ground out Ichirou. For all his muscle, his younger brother Jirou was quite a whiner.

"I mean it! How are we supposed to find some girl we've never even seen before in a place this big? You know all humans look alike!"

"I _know_ it's hard! But we've got to do it somehow, or would you like your pay cut again? I know I don't want to be reduced to eating instant ramen."

"It wouldn't matter if we could spend time hunting, instead of playing fetch for the higher-ups all the time," Tsubasa put in from where she was checking her medicines.

"Yeah, Ichi, why don't we just quit already?"

"_Because_," he explained for the zillionth time, "How long do you think we can last before some random human finds us in the woods? All it takes is one, and suddenly we'll have dozens of them hunting us." He went back to scanning the crowd from his vantage point on the roof of a building.

"As opposed to right now, when we only risk some random, _super-powered_ human finding us," his sister pointed out, also for the zillionth time.

"Just… just shut up! Look, why don't we split up after this? We'll cover more ground, and I won't have to listen to you two whine."

"Like you weren't whining just as much when we got the assignment."

He wished Jirou would let that go. "Well, it was _weird_. Follow her in secret, but also give her that medicine? It makes no sense! Now be quiet before some senshi finds us here. All we need right now is to hear one of those stupid attack names, like-"

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

"Yeah, like that. …Wait…"

They scattered as the whip of yellow energy lashed through the air, each flying off in a different direction. Glancing backwards, Ichirou found that the senshi had chosen to follow _him_. Of course.

* * *

She was stealthy. She was invisible. She… she…

She was a ninja!

Hotaru shook her head. She needed to be more serious, or she'd never complete her mission.

She still remembered how happy she'd been when Luna had given it to her. 'I can't find anyone who's more competent', she'd said. Well, Hotaru was determined to prove her right: She _could_ do more than just destroy, and there _was_ no one better for the mission than her.

Emerging from her hiding place and determinedly ignoring the odd looks from those around her, she refocused on her targets. The blonde one – Su, was her name? – certainly seemed… peppy. She kind of reminded her of Usagi, actually.

The similarities only increased when she suddenly dragged her confederate into an ice cream parlor. Hotaru took up a position in a bush outside it, gazing through the windows.

…She'd like some ice cream herself, actually, but that wasn't important. Putting her growling stomach out of her mind, she continued her vigil.

* * *

"Mmm… Banana-flavored ice cream…"

Keitaro ignored his drooling companion as they stood in line, lost in thought.

"Hey, Keitaros?" Su asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Yeah, Su?"

"You know that girl is following us, right?"

"…I know." The purple-haired girl had been tailing them practically since they'd left the Hinata-Sou that morning, but had yet to work up the nerve to actually talk to them.

"She's a lot like Shinomu, huh?"

"I know…" Actually, she was even shyer than Shinobu. Though… from what he'd heard, Shinobu had been worse when she'd first moved into the Hinata-Sou, before Keitaro had arrived, so maybe Su had the right of it.

"Do you think she has a crush on you?"

He shuddered at the thought. It was all he needed, really. If Naru or Motoko ever learned that a prepubescent girl wanted to go out with him, they'd murder him on the spot.

They reached the front of the line, and Su yelled out her order. "A triple-scoop of Happy Happy Banana Blast Sensation!"

"And just a regular scoop of chocolate for me…" he added, rubbing his ear. He shifted the back-pack to a more comfortable position – Su had declared it to be his turn to carry the outfits, and the thing didn't fit him well at all – and caught sight of the girl again, this time gazing longingly through the parlor's windows. He sighed, turning back to the clerk. "Make that two chocolate cones."

Three cones and a depleted wallet later, he left the parlor, walking to where he'd seen the girl. They were bound to talk eventually, and it was better to get it done with sooner, rather than later.

Kneeling on the ground beside her – she was still staring into the parlor, her stomach audibly rumbling – he offered one of the cones. "Here, have it."

She snapped out of her reverie, and her eyes widened when she saw him. She let out a squeak and whirled in panic, her flailing arms knocking the cone out of his hands and into his face, and she dashed off without a word.

"That didn't work out like I thought it would..." He wiped the chocolate from his face and retreated back to Su. People around him began pointing and muttering. "I think we should go…" he whispered, grabbing Su's arm and hurrying in the direction opposite from the way the girl had gone.

* * *

Motoko rubbed her temples, to no avail. She wished she had brought more medicine with her, as the headache was only getting worse. Still, something as petty as that should not-

Heat flashed through her and her vision swam. Swaying, she managed to catch herself against the side of a building before she fell to the ground. She leaned there for a few moments as her sight returned to normal.

"Hey, you alright?"

She waved the man off. "I am fine. Just… a cold, or something."

"If you say so." He continued on his way.

Motoko righted herself, more steady than she felt. If this happened during a battle… But already the effects were subsiding. She shook her head. There was no need to return home, she would simply locate a medicine store or herbalist. There must be one nearby.

An explosion from above drew her attention. Her hand whipped to her katana's hilt as she took a ready stance, gazing upwards. Debris showered down some few yards away, and a blur shot over the street from the roof of the building she'd been leaning against.

She was about to give chase when another form followed close behind it, the dress declaring her to be one of the senshi. Motoko relaxed; the situation was well in hand, it seemed.

She strode off in search of a drug store, ignoring her pounding head and occasional stumbles, never noticing the one she had been standing next to.

* * *

"Stop running!"

"Stop chasing me!" Jirou was just not having a good day.

Why, why, _why_ did this have to happen to him? First sent on some hopeless fool's errand, then attacked by that first senshi – he hoped his brother was alright – and now chased all over town by one of the more psychotic ones.

"I'll stop chasing you when you stop running! World Shaking!" A hammer of air flew towards him, breaking up the roof of the building in its wake.

"I'll stop running when you stop chasing me!" He deftly swerved to the side, avoiding the blast. It was insulting, really, thinking she could hit him with something as obvious as that.

"I'll stop chasing you when… Why am I even _saying_ this?" She used the momentary distraction to close some of the distance between them. Her sword clove the air a hairs-breadth from him, just as it had the last three times they'd done this. It was the sword that was the problem…

He smiled, an idea dawning on him. Suddenly doubling back, he rammed her knees and dashed on behind her – and lost a quarter-inch of tail to another swing. Apparently, it wasn't a _good_ idea.

Still, she staggered, and Jirou took the opportunity to unwind his kusari-gama's chain, launching the weight so that the length wrapped around her sword. One yank, and it went flying from her grasp, pulling her down as it went.

He readied his scythe's blade. Sure, finding the dark-haired swordswoman was hopeless, but killing a light-haired one would surely make up for it.

"Deep Submerge!"

_Son of a…_ He barely dodged as a blue orb of… whatever it was crashed into the roof where he'd been standing. The green-haired newcomer dashed to her comrade's side as he flew off. There was just no way he was fighting two senshi by himself.

It was just his luck, really.

* * *

Stupid! She was so _stupid_! Not only had she let him sneak up on her, but she'd fled like a coward, too – and wasted perfectly good ice cream in the process. How was she supposed to prove Luna right like that?

It had taken Hotaru another half-hour to find her targets again, and she no longer had any idea where she was, but she'd been following them ever since and keeping _very_ carefully out of sight this time.

Still, were Keitaro and Su really that bad? From what she'd seen, they were just two ordinary (well… one ordinary and one slightly insane) people. The man had even tried to give her ice cream, and villains never handed out ice cream.

…Well, unless it was poisoned, or they were just trying to make you trust them, or it was actually an ice cream-shaped youma, or… She decided to stop thinking of possibilities.

Well, Luna asked her to watch them, and watch them she would. No matter how often her stomach reminded her that it was empty and she'd forgotten to bring any money.

And if they saw her again… She resolved _not_ to run away. Maybe if they thought she was just an ordinary girl, they'd let her tag along with them. Then it would be _really_ easy to keep an eye on them! And she could find out where she was, too.

* * *

They were almost to Shibuya – Su had spent most of their train fair on ice cream and bananas, and he wanted to save what was left for the return trip – when Su piped up, "Hey Keitaros, I was wondering…"

"Hmm?"

"When we were… in the fog yesterday, why didn't you turn on the infrared mode yourself?"

It had taken forever to get her to watch what she said, but at least his efforts were working. "I didn't even know I had it."

"But you said you read the manual."

"I said that I _tried_. The thing was in some crazy moon language or something, all I could understand were the diagrams."

"Crazy moon language?" She looked at him, puzzled. "…Oh yeah, you can't read Momolian, I forgot. But Molmol isn't on the moon!"

Keitaro covered his face with a hand. It was just like her to forget something like that.

"Hey, you know that girl is following us again, right?"

"Yeah, I know…"

"You gonna try to talk with her again? She only reacted a little worse than Shinomu used to, after all."

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should. I think she's lost."

He turned to the purple-haired girl and waved, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The young girl flinched and stumbled backwards onto her rear, but at least she didn't run or try to hide behind something this time. He took slow steps towards her so as not to frighten her off, then knelt next to her. "Hello there. Are you lost?"

The girl meeped, but nodded her head.

"Well, you can follow us to the train station, if you'd like. I'm Keitaro Urashima, what's your name?" He held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Umm… I'm-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off when someone bumped into Keitaro from behind, presumably in a hurry, and knocked him off balance. Even as he started to fall forwards, he knew it was too late. That _feeling_ was spreading through his bones.

His outstretched hand caught at the girl's skirt, pulling it around her ankles and revealing a pair of purple panties. He fell against her, forcing her the rest of the way to the ground, and he landed with his face on her chest.

Silence reigned.

Then she let out an ear-splitting shriek, kicking him off of her and running down the street, tripping as she tried to pull her skirt back into place.

Su joined him, leaning down and whispering into his ear, "Uh… maybe you were a bit _too_ forward, Keitaros?"

A crowd was gathering around him, people muttering angrily and a few cracking their knuckles. He struggled to his feet, putting his hands up in a desperate attempt to placate them. "It's… It's not what it looks like!"

* * *

Motoko wandered around… somewhere. Shinjuku? No, that's where she had been an hour before – or was it two? – and then she'd taken a train to… maybe it was the subway? Regardless, she was no longer there.

Her head pounded. Her body felt far too hot. She could barely think. That medicine she had bought had only made things worse since she'd taken it, and she would march right back to the store and demand her money back if only she could remember _where_ she'd bought it.

Yelling came from behind her, and she whirled languidly, grasping her katana's hilt, taking an unsteady fighting stance. She sought the source of the disturbance when…

…Urashima ran across the road? A rather large mob emerged a few seconds later, chasing him down a street intersecting her own, shouting in fury as they went.

Motoko shook her head. If she were sick enough to hallucinate, then perhaps she really _should_ head home. She staggered off towards the nearest train station.

At least… she _thought_ the station was that way.

* * *

Keitaro pelted down Shibuya's streets, running far faster than he thought possible. Even so, he could hear the angry yells of the mob behind him. Mostly they drowned each other out into an unintelligible babble, but every so often a clear cry of 'Kill the pervert!' would spur him to even greater speeds.

Risking a quick glance behind him, he saw that the mob had actually _grown_ in size, as more people were swept into it. At least he was slowly gaining on… Were those _pitchforks_? He sped up a bit more.

Rounding a corner, he saw salvation in an alley – or as close to salvation as he was likely to get. Wrestling the backpack off as he ran, he dove into the alley and hid behind a dumpster, quickly donning his suit and praying he was fast enough.

He managed to finish just as the first foot-falls entered the alley, and he leapt out of hiding. Pointing to the street at the other end of the alley, he announced in as heroic a voice as he could muster, "He went _that_ way, citizens!"

The roaring crowd swept by him, parting to either side as they went. When the last of them had left, he heaved a sigh of relief; he'd live to see another day. Or at least another hour.

A flying kick struck the side of his head, knocking him to the ground once more. "Keitaros! You're not supposed to transform without me!"

"Oh for… Secret identities!" He looked around as he got to his feet, but saw no one.

"Aw, don't worry 'bout it. Everyone joined the mob when they found out what you did."

"It was an _accident_! …And where were you this whole time, anyway?"

"Well, when they all started chasing you, it looked fun, so I joined in!"

Keitaro hung his head; he'd suspected as much. "Look, we're almost to Hachiko's statue. Put your suit on and let's go."

"OK!" She fished her own dress out of the pack, and went through her 'transformation' ritual. Once she was ready and the two were striding towards their destination, Su asked, "Hey, Tempest, why do you think they wanted to meet somewhere so public, anyway?"

Keitaro shrugged. "I'm sure they have their reasons."

* * *

"_Why_ did you tell them to meet us somewhere so public?" Rei asked, more than a little impatient with the situation.

Usagi smiled at her apologetically. "I needed to tell them _something_, and I wasn't really thinking…"

"Now, _that_ I'll believe."

The three of them – Rei, Usagi, and Ami – had been standing next to Hachiko's statue for half an hour now, all wearing their senshi outfits and feeling increasingly foolish as time went by. They tried to ignore the crowd growing around them, but it was hard.

"I just wish they'd _hurry_," Rei growled, scanning the crowd yet again for any sign of their would-be new recruits – she still didn't trust them, herself – and spotted something truly horrifying. "Oh no…"

"What? What is it?"

"News team at 10 o'clock."

Ami buried her face in her hands as the reporter and her cameraman shoved their way through the crowd and set up in front of them.

"I'm Midori Kumogawa, reporting live from Hachiko's statue in Shibuya!" the reporter began as Usagi smiled like a fool and waved to the camera, "And I'm here with three of the Sailor Senshi to bring you their first ever interview!"

"Wha?" Rei gasped. "We didn't agree to-"

"Just go with it," the reporter cut her off with a hiss. "Now then," she continued as if nothing had happened, "What inspired you to become heroes?"

"Uhh…" Rei was at a loss, and Ami was just short of sobbing from embarrassment.

"It was just a calling, really!" Usagi cut in. "We were born for this!"

"Stop encouraging her!" Rei whispered fervently, but the blonde merely waved her off.

"Hmm, so it was just a natural fit with you? Fascinating. Now, on to the obvious question: What are you three here for? Do you expect trouble?"

"What? No, no, we're just waiting for… There they are!" Usagi started hopping up and down like a ninny and flapping her arms to draw the attention of a pair of costumed newcomers.

Sailor Fusion and the Tempest Ranger joined them – the crowd parted easily for them – but hesitated at the sight of the camera. Fusion smiled and waved exactly as Usagi had. Rei groaned silently.

"And here come Japan's two newest heroes to join us!" Midori continued as if she'd expected it all along, ushering the two of them the rest of the way to the senshi. "I'm sure our viewers will want to know all about you!"

"Umm… We really need to talk with them. Alone." Rei tried to shoo the reporter off.

"Nonsense! It will only take a few hours." Her smile took on an almost psychotic edge.

"But… we really should-" Tempest began, only to be cut off by Fusion's elbow to his back.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

Tempest stumbled forward a few paces, arms wheeling, and he went down – directly into Ami's bosom.

The dark-haired girl flushed beet red.

He mumbled something that sounded alarmingly like, "Not again…"

Growling, Rei grabbed the pervert by his shoulders, yanking him away from her friend. She drew her fist back to slug him…

…And noticed the reporter grinning even more widely, if that was possible, a wolfish glint in her eyes.

Rei unclenched her fist, forcing a smile onto her face. "Why, Tempest, you really should be more careful! We wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong ideas, now would we?" she said in as pleasant a voice as she could manage. Then she leaned in close and added in a whisper, still smiling, "As soon as we're somewhere private, your life is mine." She let him go.

"Oh my, viewers, it seems we've just been witness to a jealous spat! Could it be that Sailor Mars and the Tempest Ranger are secretly lovers?"

Rei suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Her shock was only heightened when Usagi did the intelligent thing. "They can't be! Mars only met him just now."

"And Tempest already has a girlfriend!" Fusion added.

It took another fifteen minutes to redirect the reporter's focus, and most of Rei's willpower to keep from simply melting the camera.

* * *

Aoi wandered Tokyo's streets aimlessly, deep in thought. This had to be done right the first time, or it would never work.

No amount of research could reveal the identities of the senshi; sleepless nights had proven that. That meant that simply showing up at their doorsteps was out.

Dangling some weak youkai as bait would certainly draw a few out, but that would set a rather… undesirable mood. Peace talks rarely worked when you started them by blowing something up.

A few announcements could get them to meet peacefully, but that had its own problems. Doing so may very well bring out the whole lot of them, and if it turned ugly, that many together could overpower someone of even h-

…Why were they holding an interview out in the open like that? And with some sort of tabloid show, too, given the icon on the camera.

Ah well, at least that solved the problem.

* * *

"Why do you call yourself the Tempest Ranger?"

"She came up with it." He pointed lethargically at Su.

Three hours of increasingly inane questions had sapped most of his will to live. Only Su and Sailor Moon seemed unaffected.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red." Dear god, when would it end?

"Are you _sure_ you and Sailor Mars aren't-"

"Definitely not." That question came up so often, he'd stopped listening to it altogether.

"What's your secret identity?"

"K… wait, what?" He snapped out of his boredom-induced coma, looking around. That question hadn't come from the reporter.

"Worth a shot," said a white-haired, plain-faced woman in a blue kimono as she forced her way to through the gathered crowd to join the group, ignoring the reporter's glare. She turned to the crowd and announced, "I need to speak with the senshi here privately for a while. You can all leave now."

Keitaro and the others exchanged puzzled glances. "Do you know her?" he asked, and received a trio of shaking heads in response.

"Excuse me, _miss_, but I'm in the middle of an interview here." The reporter made to shove the woman back into the crowd.

"I said _leave_!" she snarled, causing everyone gathered to flinch at her voice. Slowly, the crowd started leaving, apparently cowed by the woman.

The cameraman whispered something in the reporter's ear, and she looked at him aghast. "But… My interview! We can't-" He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

The woman turned back to the five of them, voice pleasant once again. "Well, now that they're out of the way, we can have a nice chat."

The senshi glared at her. "And who exactly are _you_?" Mars demanded.

"Call me Aoi. There are things you don't know about these youkai you've been fighting that I think you should."

"And how would you know about them?" This time it was Mercury who spoke up.

"Why, isn't it obvious?" The woman shrugged. "I am one."

The four girls were instantly ready to battle. Keitaro hesitated a moment before following suit.

"Now now, I'm not here fight. I just want-" The girls spread out in a ring around her, and she let out a resigned sigh.

"Shabon Spray!" Mercury called, filling the area with mist again. He couldn't see through it, of course, but _this_ time he knew about the infrared. He pressed a button on his mask to turn it on…

…And brought up night vision instead, the screen filling with blindingly bright light. Fumbling with the buttons, he switched randomly between views. Sonar… zoom… targeting system? _Pong_?

He heard the woman say, "Mist? Is this a gift?" as he finally switched on the infrared. He was treated to a wonderful view of the mist freezing in an expanding sphere around the woman, engulfing him and then thickening into a single, solid mass before he could break free. Struggling proved useless; the ice was simply too hard.

The tomb of ice rendered the infrared useless as well, so he switched it off. Thankfully, his hand had still been on the button when he'd been frozen.

As he watched, the ice seemed to disintegrate away to nothing, leaving only blocks encasing the five of them up to their necks, all struggling just as futilely as he was. Mars was stuck with her arms half-way in front of her, apparently about to release a fireball before she'd been caught.

"Ohohoho! Now that I have your attentions, perhaps we can hold a civilized discussion? I want to tell you about these 'evil youkai' you're so intent on eradicating."

Trapped as they were, they had no choice but to listen to the youkai woman's tale. She claimed that once, centuries ago, youkai had lived out in the open, that they were to the night what humans were to the day. She claimed that, as the humans' technology advanced, they had begun to mercilessly slaughter youkai, eventually forcing them into hiding.

After some minutes of flowery speech, Keitaro realized that he could reach the button – barely – that activated his sonic attack. If he aimed it right, he might be able to break out Mars, and then… But something stopped him. For some reason, he felt he needed to listen to this youkai.

She said that the youkai had bided their time, waiting for a day when humans might accept them. She said that they had sent a diplomat to the prime minister, but he had been cut down almost as soon as he revealed himself.

A quick look around showed Keitaro that the others clearly thought she was lying, but… There was something about her, something unexplainable, that made Keitaro believe. He found himself nodding along with her.

She explained that they'd been left with no choice but to declare war to reclaim their own home, but they had no true wish to harm people. She explained that those youkai who did try to hurt civilians were acting against orders, and would be punished.

Her voice was… almost hypnotic, in a way. As she turned away from him, he idly wondered why the ice didn't feel cold. It must be the suit. Sailors Mars, Mercury, and Moon didn't seem to be cold either, though, so maybe it was just that this ice wasn't really ice? He glanced over at Su.

Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, her lips a deep blue. It wouldn't be long before she lost consciousness.

His fingers flew to the button as he screamed. "Let us _go_!"

"What!" The youkai whipped around and was caught up in the sonic wave. She flew backwards across the plaza until she slammed into the side of building, hard enough to crack the wall.

As she impacted, the ice encasing them disintegrated, and he rushed to Su's side as she collapsed in a shivering heap. Holding her close to share his warmth, he heard Mars call out, "Fire Soul!" and saw a ball of fire streak towards the downed youkai. As he watched, a thick wall of ice sprang up along its path, dousing the flame even as it melted.

The youkai stood up, face twisted into a snarl as her eyes glowed an icy blue. "Fine, then. If that's how you wish to do things…"

A blizzard sprang to life from nothing.

* * *

Well, now she was _completely_ lost.

Hotaru wandered the strangely empty streets of wherever, looking for a landmark, or at least someone who could give her directions. Her mission was a complete failure, now.

And just to top things off, it had suddenly started snowing, and fairly hard at that. True, it was still January, but she hadn't thought it was cold enough today…

Movement down the street caught her eye as a figure practically flew into the middle of an intersection several blocks away – she couldn't tell what or who it was through the snow, which seemed to be even heavier in that direction. The figure's identity was revealed to her, however, when a snow-muffled cry of "Burning Mandala!" echoed down the street and flames shot from the figure, back where she had come from.

Glancing quickly around to make sure no one could see her, she held her hand above her head and incanted, "Saturn Planet Power Make-up!" Bright light enveloped her for a few moments, and when she emerged she was clothed in her senshi uniform, Silence Glaive in hand.

She ran to join in the battle, but slid to a stop when she noticed a glow out of the corner of her eye, in an alley a few buildings away from the fight. Ami and Su, both in their senshi outfits, were huddled around a fire blazing inside a trashcan, sheltered from the storm. The latter was shivering uncontrollably, unsteady on her feet and barely glancing up at Hotaru's arrival. Ami had her body pressed against the girl, and was working furiously at her computer.

Ami looked up as Hotaru entered the alley, and yelled, "It's a yuki-onna! She's using ice-based powers, and my attacks won't work! Go help the others!" Then she went back to her computer.

Nodding, Hotaru started ascending a fire escape in hopes of ambushing the youma from the rooftops, not realizing until she was most of the way up what a horrible idea that was in the middle of a snowstorm. As she climbed onto the roof of the three-story building, however, she was surprised to see that it was mostly devoid of snow, despite the storm raging just a few feet below her.

She bounded from roof to roof, reaching the fight in short order, and took a moment to survey the battlefield. The storm was strongest here, and ice and snow covered the ground and the sides of the buildings in large patches. Snow flew in a whirlwind in the middle of an intersection, too far away for her to reach, not quite obscuring a kimono-clad woman standing still in its center – the 'yuki-onna', presumably. Usagi, Rei, and Keitaro circled the youma as they fought, but walls and spears of ice flew at them and blocked their attacks, seemingly with a will of their own.

As she watched, Usagi and Keitaro both slid on the same patch of ice, colliding with each other and going down in a tangle of limbs at the foot of her building. A column of ice shot towards them from the youma's outstretched hand, its end forming into rows of wicked spikes while more frozen spears soared through the air, angled to impale them from above.

Hotaru leapt from the building, landing in front of the two as she brought her glaive down on the ice column. The magic inherent to the weapon was more than enough to shatter it, even without using one of her powers. Not pausing, she brought her glaive up in front of her and yelled, "Silent Wall!" Dark energy crackled around her as the airborne spikes hit her force-field, shattering as well.

Then her feet went out from under her and she fell on her rear on the ice.

As the three heroes struggled to their feet, the youma's next attack was countered by another of Rei's Burning Mandala, the rings of fire melting wide paths in the ice and evaporating the water before it could refreeze. They all spread out again, Rei and Hotaru managing to counter the yuki-onna's onslaught between them while the other two were… pretty much useless, actually. No one could land a hit on the creature

Usagi launched her tiara towards the youma over Keitaro's shouted protests, only for a wall of ice to form in its path, sending it ricocheting off to one side. Another wall of ice formed in its path, and another, until finally the glowing circlet crashed into the back of Keitaro's head and sent him to the ground before returning to its owner. "Why does that keep happening?" Usagi whined as she caught it out of the air.

"F-F-Fusion M-Magma Ball!" A red orb sailed past Hotaru, bursting into flame as it went. The flames dribbled off of it, leaving a broken trail of fire along the ground behind it. Finally, it hit a wall of ice, splattering and clinging to it, melting a hole as it slid down the street.

Hotaru glanced behind her to see Su grinning maniacally a short distance away, still shivering but much steadier than she had been. "N-now I've g-got you!" she yelled through chattering teeth.

The yuki-onna laughed derisively, though its onslaught barely paused. "Ohohoho! And what is something that pathetic going to-"

A burst of fire caught it in the back, shearing through the storm and knocking it several feet through the air. Ice walls disintegrated and the falling snow thinned, revealing Ami behind the yuki-onna, a sphere in each hand.

"H-hey! We agreed you'd y-y-yell "M-Mercury/Fusion Team-T-Tech Fire Blast!" Su scolded.

"Not the time!" Ami yelled back, lobbing one of the orbs at the downed youma. Mars, Usagi, and Su quickly followed suit with their own attacks while Hotaru and Keitaro rushed forwards as quickly as they dared, in case it survived.

As the grenades and energy converged, however, a dome of ice formed around the yuki-onna, quickly expanding. The flames and explosions couldn't penetrate through to its center, and the tiara merely bounced off of it, ricocheting once again towards Keitaro – who this time managed to duck it, though doing so caused him to pitch forwards and slide along the icy pavement. Huge spines of ice erupted from the dome and extended outwards in a ten foot radius, forcing Hotaru to bring up her force-field and missing Keitaro by scant inches as he slid past.

As the super-suited man came to a stop near Ami, the dome and spines shattered away to nothing as the storm picked up again, revealing the youma – who now looked _pissed_. Its entire body began to glow bright white, even through the kimono it wore.

Spears of ice shot out in all directions – including a very dense number heading for the isolated pair. Hotaru made a dash to them, dodging, blocking, or shattering any spears that were aimed for her. Ami loosed her third and final grenade as Keitaro struggled to his feet, the wave of heat emanating from it melting the first salvo of spikes but leaving them defenseless to the next.

Hotaru put on a burst of speed, slipping on the ice once again and sliding on her back between the pair and their incoming doom. She managed to bring up her Silent Wall in the nick of time, still sliding, and the deadly icicles shattered uselessly against it as her momentum carried her through their paths.

Explosions shattered ice on the yuki-onna's opposite side, breaking apart frozen walls and sending shards flying through the air with enough force to break chips off of the sides of buildings. Shards flew towards the senshi on that side, as well, but those Rei melted out of the air while yelling at Su to be more careful.

Su's reply was lost when the storm intensified, whipping the remaining shards through the air. The youma's attacks started coming more and more fiercely.

Somehow, the six of them (well, three of them: Usagi, Ami, and Keitaro couldn't do much more to help than dodge) managed to counter everything, even gaining ground. The monster eventually became more defensive, focusing its attention on stopping the senshis' advances, only launching counter-attacks when it thought there was an opening.

As Hotaru blocked yet another sudden barrage of spikes, she saw Ami's eyes widen with a sudden idea. She whispered something into Keitaro's ear, though Hotaru couldn't hear what.

A short time later, Rei prepared to launch yet another Burning Mandala towards the youma, who once again started to form a wall of ice to counter it. This time, however, Ami yelled "Now!" and sent a ball of blue energy at the youma while its back was turned as Keitaro shot out a constant stream from his water cannon.

Water burst out from beneath the monster's feet, freezing as it rose to form a solid column of ice. Keitaro's stream of water hit the column, rapidly freezing backwards towards him until it was short distance away, when he stopped shooting. Before the yuki-onna could break free, Keitaro grabbed the long rod of ice with both hands. Energy crackled around his gloves and along the ice, electrifying the column.

Once again, walls of ice disintegrated, and the now vulnerable youma staggered, dropping to its knees. Hotaru rushed forwards again, glaive at the ready, as Rei shot a ball of fire and Su threw another of her seemingly inexhaustible supply of grenades.

The thing managed to block the ranged attacks with another wall – barely – but didn't see Hotaru until it was almost too late. The glaive blurred as it scythed through the monster's chest, but the thing managed to jerk backwards at the last moment, and the blade caught nothing but cloth. Before she could strike again, a blinding spray of snow hit her, forcing her to guard her face.

When her vision cleared, the youma was on the run, surrounded by a moving ring of ice as it dashed down the street – towards Ami and Keitaro. Hotaru gave chase, joining the other three as they passed, and Ami and Keitaro leapt out of the way before joining them as well.

Rei lined up another shot on the run. "Burning…"

Before she could finish, the youma cried out, "Protect me!" Suddenly, Keitaro changed directions, knocking the girls over and tackling Rei to the ground, dispelling the gathering energy. The monster disappeared around a corner before any of them could recover, and the snow began to let up.

Everyone stared in shock at Keitaro – including Keitaro himself, who seemed very surprised to find himself laying on top of Rei, his hands on her breasts. "Umm…" he began.

Rei kneed him in the crotch. The she shoved him off of her, wrapped her hands around his throat, and started shaking him while calling him all sorts of nasty names.

"Mars!" Ami called. "MARS! _MARS!_" The miko looked over to her friend, still shaking Keitaro. "Umm… That thing can control men's minds. It wasn't his fault."

"…Oh." She let go of the would-be hero, letting his helmet hit the pavement. "Well… consider that revenge for Mercury, then," she told him.

Hotaru looked between Rei and Ami, confused. "What do you mean? What happened to Mercury?"

In answer, Ami merely blushed a deep red, while Keitaro croaked out an excuse as he got his feet. "It was an accident..."

Ah. She could believe that, actually. Sure, she'd been mortified by what he'd apparently done to her before – and still was, quite frankly – but looking back, she could see that it really _had_ been an accident.

"We almost had her…" Rei growled to herself, then shot an angry glare at Keitaro. "Next time we fight that thing, _you_ are not going anywhere near it, got it?"

He nodded his head in fervent assent.

"Well, the important thing is that we're all unharmed. We'll definitely defeat it next time!" Usagi announced brightly.

Su seconded the motion. "Yeah! …I told you that the bad guy always escapes the first time. OH!" She dug around in her satchel, and pulled out… a pen and note pad? She thrust it into Rei's face, bouncing on her toes and begging, "Sign it! Sign it!"

"What… Do you really believe that this is the proper time to-"

Ami cut her off. "Just do it, she'll get you to sign it eventually."

Rei sighed, but took the pen scribbled her senshi name. The process was repeated with Hotaru, who felt her cheeks grow hot as she wrote her autograph. She could see Keitaro shaking his head at the sight.

"Yay! Four more, and I'll have the whole set!" Su hugged the signatures before replacing them in her satchel. "So, we're on the team, right? Right!"

Rei buried her face in her hands, but Usagi hazarded, "Uhh… we've almost decided. We'll tell you for sure… tomorrow?"

Su face fell. "Aw, man… Are we meeting at the same place again?"

Rei cut in before their leader could respond. "_NO_! No, we will find you." She turned and began striding away, her face a mixture of emotions (mostly annoyance). She grabbed Usagi's arm as she passed, dragging her along with her, and Ami followed behind them.

Keitaro and Su turned to leave in another direction, the latter chatting animatedly while the former merely rubbed his neck.

Hotaru suddenly realized that she still hadn't completed her mission, and this was a perfect opportunity. But… should she really do it? They seemed like they genuinely wanted to help, and in fact _had_ helped in the fight. Aside from one or two little incidents, they weren't doing any harm…

She hurried to join the rest of the senshi as the pair rounded a corner, and said, "Gee, I don't know what to think of Keitaro and Su, now…"

"Who?" asked Ami.

"You know, 'The Tempest Ranger' and 'Sailor Fusion'?"

The others stopped dead. "…How did you learn their names?" Rei asked.

"Luna told me. Didn't she tell you, too?"

* * *

The senshi yelled something behind her, but Tsubasa didn't pay any attention to it. All her concentration was divided between dodging the bolts of lightning and searching the streets.

There were worse things than Rakshasa venom, but any sort of poison was a nasty way to die. She wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy, and certainly not on some innocent girl. If she didn't find her soon…

She swerved to avoid another bolt, eyes scanning the road in the dimming light when she found her target. She was tall, with long, black hair, carrying a katana and obviously very sick. That had to be her.

She swooped down to her, heedless of the senshi's onslaught, digging out the small vial from her medicine case.

* * *

She couldn't think. Could barely walk. Her vision was blurry. She had no idea where she was.

The wall she was leaning on suddenly ran out, and she tumbled sideways, falling on the ground and laying there. She couldn't work up the energy or coordination to stand again.

Some distant part of her mind berated her for how _stupid_ she'd been, ignoring her worsening condition when it was so obvious that she needed help. She should have realized the problem the moment she'd seen the unhealed wound that monster had given her.

A sharp gust of wind blew past her, and she suddenly found herself holding a small vial of some viscous-looking, yellow liquid. A small note was attached to it, and she could barely make out the words [Drink Immediately!].

That same distant part of her mind screamed at her that it was a trap, that it _must_ be a trap.

She shrugged, tearing the cap off and downing the tasteless stuff in one gulp. If it was a trap, she was dead anyway.

The last thing she saw before lapsing into unconsciousness was a green skirt hurrying towards her.

* * *

Her business completed, she returned home, silent as a cat can be. As she entered the yard, she noticed that a window on the ground floor had been carelessly left open; she'd need to have a word with the girl about that, but for now it made for a convenient entrance.

She leapt through into the darkened room, and the trap was sprung. The laundry basket slammed down over her, trapping her inside. The lights flicked on, revealing the angry faces of four teenage girls and a cat through the basket's slits. Where Makoto was, she had no idea.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luna demanded, ramming the side of her prison to no effect. It must have been weighted down.

"We could ask you the same thing." Usagi crossed her arms defiantly. "Why didn't you tell us that you knew who Tempest and Fusion were?"

"And why did you send _Hotaru_ to follow them, of all people?" Ami added.

Luna sighed inwardly. "She was the only outer senshi I could find last night. And I didn't tell you because you didn't need to know. I had the situation under control, or thought I did at any rate."

The girls glared at her, but Artemis demanded, "Why didn't you at least tell me?"

"I didn't think it mattered! And it _still_ doesn't; I've sent Michiru to their home, she'll have the problem taken care of soon enough.

The girls' mouths hung open and Artemis gave her a flat-eyed stare. Finally, Rei announced, "I want to punch him, not _kill_ him. We have got to stop this."

"Agreed!"

They spent the next few hours grilling Luna about everything she knew. And they _still_ wouldn't let her out from under the basket until the next morning.

* * *

"I think maybe I should add some fire attacks to your suit, like a flamethrower or something."

"Uh-huh…" He was just too exhausted to keep up with Su's bottomless reserves of energy.

"I didn't do it before because that was gonna be Naru-han's weapon. Then again, flamethrowers don't really fit the 'storm' theme…"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Still though, that was so _cool_ the way we all worked together there. I wish I could take credit for the firebomb trick, but it was all Ami's idea."

"Yeah…"

"I almost ran out of bombs, there. Maybe I should add more pouches, but then I'd…"

Su drifted back into the technical stuff, so he tuned her out again. He was glad she was alright after her brush with hypothermia, though given the nasally tone in her voice he was willing to bet she'd have a full-on cold the next day. And as much as he hated to think of her getting sick, it was honestly just as well.

"Tomorrow, I think we should-"

"Stay home," he finished for her sternly.

"But-"

"No. _Both_ of us need to catch up on studying: You've been missing an awful lot of school, and my center test is coming up in a few days, remember?"

"Oh yeah… It's no fun, though."

"Think of it as an opportunity to improve the suits."

They had almost reached the Hinata-Sou's front door when it slammed open and Naru, Kitsune, Shinobu, and Sarah hurried out. "What are you two…?" Naru started when she noticed them. "Never mind, come on!"

"What? What happened, Naru?"

"It's Motoko! She's in the hospital!"

"What?"

He and Su fell in line with the others as they hurried into the night.

* * *

Ichirou was just starting to get worried when Tsubasa showed up.

"I found her!" she announced happily. "I gave her the medicine and everything. She'll be alright in a day or two!"

"Wonderful! What did you find out about her? Name, address, what?"

She stared at him silently for a moment before glancing off to the left.

"…But I don't want to eat instant ramen!" Jirou wailed.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_OK, another chapter done, and this one's actually a decent length. I had to go back and edit a few parts because of plot chasms, so if you notice anything that doesn't seem to fit right… that's probably why._

_It's with this chapter that I run into a problem I've mentioned in previous Author's Notes: There is no point in canon (_any_ canon) where all the senshi are present, yet not too overpowered, and so I've basically said 'screw it'. So, if the senshi are using things they shouldn't be able to yet, or not using things that they should… that's definitely why._

_I've also run into another, less expected problem: I can't remember much past the 1__st__ arc. I _thought_ I could remember stuff, but it seems that I am wrong. My main sources of information for that stuff are Irritus and Wikipedia, so if anyone is acting out of character or doing things wrong… that's most likely why._

_Finally, a note about the kama-itachi: They may come off as incompetent (and they are), but they're still deadly in combat against single opponents, especially Jirou. There's a reason the leader chose them to start the war, and it was sheer dumb luck that Keitaro and Su escaped from that encounter with their skins intact._

_UPDATE: changed attack names to Japanese, removed no-longer-applicable Author's Notes, generally fixed up the writing._

_New Youkai_

_Yuki-onna (literally 'snow maiden') – Ghostly women said to appear amidst snowstorms. Their exact origin, nature, and powers tend to vary wildly from tale to tale, so I went with an amalgamation of them, plus a few touches of my own._

_Next couple of chapters will be a lot less actiony, so we'll see how that works out._


End file.
